FCC Approves Sixth Set of COVID-19 Telehealth Program Applications

The Federal Communications Commission’s Wireline Competition Bureau recently approved an additional 33 funding applications for the COVID-19 Telehealth Program. Healthcare providers in both urban and rural areas of the country will use this $8.36 million in funding to provide telehealth services during the coronavirus pandemic. To date, the FCC’s COVID-19 Telehealth Program, which was authorized by the CARES Act, has funded 82 healthcare providers in 30 states for a total of $33.26 million in funding.

Below is a list of health care providers that were awarded funding:

• Bee Busy Wellness Center, Houston, Texas, was awarded $182,854 to purchase video monitors and connected devices to provide primary and preventive medical services, including remote monitoring, diagnosis and treatment, to COVID-19 vulnerable populations in Houston and surrounding areas.

• Behavioral Health Services North in Plattsburgh, New York was awarded $39,181 for connected devices, monitors, and software licenses to provide therapy, medication management, health monitoring and rehabilitation services via remote patient monitoring and telehealth to patients at risk for COVID-19.

• Bethesda Community Clinic in Canton, Georgia was awarded $5,886 for connected devices and telecommunications services to use telemedicine to assess patient health, provide full-service office visits with professional providers, refill prescriptions, and determine if a patient requires COVID-19 testing.

• Chicago Family Health Center in Chicago, Illinois was awarded $292,000 to implement a telemedicine/telehealth platform to treat patients without COVID-19 symptoms or conditions, which will improve patient flow, decrease cycle time, decrease financial costs, and free up staff time, enabling resources to be devoted to patients that need a face-to-face visit while reducing the risk of exposure to coronavirus for all patients.

• Cincinnati Children’s Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio was awarded $719,098 to provide telehealth services to the highest risk pediatric patients with complex health care needs, including tracheostomy and ventilator dependence, and gastrostomy and tube feeding dependence, to limit their potential exposure to COVID-19 by keeping them out of the hospital and safely at home which improves their health prognosis and frees up resources to care for children with COVID-19.

• Community Healing Centers, Kalamazoo, Michigan, was awarded $36,673 for connected devices to assist with substance abuse and mental health treatment using remote video sessions for children and adults staying at home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Community Service, Inc., Morrilton, Arkansas, was awarded $44,949 for laptop computers, connected devices, telehealth kiosks, and other equipment to use for remote treatment of its youth patient population or for distanced office visits during the coronavirus pandemic.

• Community Teaching Homes, Inc., Toledo, Ohio, was awarded $20,761 to provide the full continuum of behavioral health services through telehealth connections to COVID-19 highly vulnerable and at risk children and families, with a focus on youth involved with the child welfare, juvenile justice, and developmental disabilities systems.

• Council for Jewish Elderly, Chicago, Illinois, was awarded $6,783 to provide telehealth services in its skilled nursing facility and outpatient counseling departments for over 350 older adults to limit in-person care as much as possible to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 disease.

• Four County Mental Health Center, Independence, Kansas, was awarded $16,129 for connected devices to provide telehealth services during the COVID-19 pandemic for outpatient mental health therapy, substance abuse disorder therapy, psychiatric rehabilitation, and other telehealth services.

• Franklin County Memorial Hospital, Meadville, Mississippi, was awarded $262,934 for telemedicine carts, servers and additional equipment to remotely diagnose, treat and monitor patients who are unable to receive care on-site as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Genesis PrimeCare, Marshall, Texas, with seven sites throughout rural northeast Texas, was awarded $990,716 to provide comprehensive primary health care, pediatric care, and behavioral health services through video and voice telehealth consults, and Internet-connected remote patient monitoring and treatment to serve low-income and underserved patients.

• Grace Medical Home, Orlando, Florida, was awarded $34,732 for connected devices and telecommunications services to expand the use of telehealth services for medical care to low-income, uninsured patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Greater Elgin Family Care Center, Elgin, Illinois, was awarded $39,639 for the purchase of laptops to expand its capacity to provide virtual visits for a wide variety of medical services to limit the spread of COVID-19.

• Helio Health, Syracuse, New York, was awarded $504,034 for laptops, tablets and other telehealth equipment to conduct remote monitoring and treatment of patients with COVID-19, as well as voice and video consultations, to ensure continued care for the patient population while protecting the healthcare workforce.

• Heritage Clinic and Community Assistance Program for Seniors, Pasadena, California, was awarded $41,457 to use telehealth services and devices to treat older adults in Los Angeles County with mental health issues who are underserved and often low-income, many of whom are homeless and especially vulnerable during the COVID-19 outbreak. 

• Hope House Outpatient Clinic, Albany, New York, was awarded $8,586 to purchase computer equipment to treat patients with substance abuse disorders while maintaining social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Impact Family Counseling, Birmingham, Alabama, was awarded $75,000 for connected devices to provide telehealth and video health services to treat mental health disorders during the pandemic.

• Intermountain Health Care, Murray, Utah, was awarded $772,680 to provide remote visits and consultations to patients in Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Arizona and Nevada, to reduce potential exposure to COVID patients in facilities, free up hospital/clinic spaces for treatment of COVID-19-related patients, and reduce the potential transmission of COVID-19 to health care providers from patients who are asymptomatic but infected.

• Jewish Family and Children’s Services, Tucson, Arizona, was awarded $27,320 to provide mental health telehealth services to individuals suffering from significant forms of mental health disorders, including at risk low-income, older adults and individuals with disabilities, to prevent social isolation, depression, anxiety, and other stress due to COVID-19.

• Jewish Family Service of the Desert, Palm Springs, California, was awarded $19,636 to provide mental health telehealth services and counseling sessions to address symptoms of mental health disorders and reduce the mental health challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Mattapan Community Health Center, Mattapan, Massachusetts, was awarded $755,468 for connected home monitoring devices and other equipment to enable the provision of remote medical services for patients with chronic conditions, and for the monitoring of patients who have tested positive for COVID-19 and are able to self-isolate at home.

• OLV Human Services, Lackawanna, New York, was awarded $174,840 to support the cost of connected devices and telemedicine solutions used to remotely treat COVID-19 vulnerable populations using video telehealth applications throughout Erie and Niagara counties.

• Reliance Health, Inc., Norwich, Connecticut, was awarded $18,601 for telehealth services and devices to continue contact with individuals who have chronic and persistent mental health diagnoses and are at high-risk for the COVID-19 disease.

• River Edge Behavioral Health, Macon, Georgia, was awarded $735,365 for telehealth services to care for the most clinically and financially challenged individuals with behavioral health conditions or developmental disabilities, including mental illnesses, substance use disorders, co-occurring behavioral health disorders, and autism, thereby freeing up funds that would have been used to cover telehealth costs to serve individuals with COVID-19.

• Salina Family Healthcare Center, Salina, Kansas, was awarded $14,418 for laptops, web cameras, monitors, and other equipment to provide video and voice consultations for medical, dental, behavioral health, and clinical pharmacy patients, freeing up physical space and staff to take care of patients with COVID-19 requiring face to face appointments.

• Southeast Alabama Rural Health Associates, Troy, Alabama, was awarded $732,827 to expand telehealth services across its ten community health centers, providing video and voice consults and remote treatment to its patient population for ongoing primary health care services and for COVID-19 screening, testing and treatment.

• Southwest General Health Center, Middleburg Heights, Ohio, was awarded $190,150 for connected devices, laptops and other equipment that will be used to conduct remote patient monitoring, medical voice and video consultations, and inpatient care to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

• Tanner Medical Center, Inc., in Carrollton, Georgia, with multiple sites in West Georgia and East Alabama, was awarded $879,520 to implement new telehealth services and expand existing telehealth services to treat inpatients, and to provide remote services to patients needing treatment for chronic conditions, behavioral health services, and other medical conditions, including COVID-19 high-risk, vulnerable, underserved, and low-income patients.

• The Transition House, in St. Cloud, Florida, was awarded $106,625 to purchase computers, tablets and other equipment to help remotely treat patients with substance abuse and mental health problems during the COVID-19 crisis.

• Via Care Community Health Center, a Federally Qualified Health Center, Los Angeles, California, was awarded $157,123 to implement telehealth services to conduct video visits to serve its low-income and COVID-19 vulnerable patient population.

• Wirt County Health Services Association, Inc., Elizabeth, West Virginia, was awarded $274,432 to provide health services remotely, including primary care, behavioral health, and dental services, to COVID-19 positive patients in Wirt and Jackson Counties, West Virginia, and Meigs County, Ohio, to minimize the spread of the virus and to prevent high-risk and vulnerable populations from contracting the virus.

• Yakima Neighborhood Health Services, Yakima, Washington, was awarded $177,945 to provide video telehealth services and remote patient consults to its low-income patient population during the COVID-19 pandemic.

To learn more about the FCC’s COVID-19 Telehealth Program and view a complete list of funding recipients to date, visit https://www.fcc.gov/covid19telehealth.