Telehealth

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai sent letters to 16 members of Congress on June 22, 2020, to respond to their letter asking the FCC for information on how it will select applicants for the COVID-19 Telehealth Program. Pai said the FCC consulted with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to identify the hardest-hit areas and the FCC has taken steps to ensure health care providers have the necessary information to participate.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai sent letters to Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), and Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) on June 23, 2020, to respond to their letter urging the FCC to take steps to make more rural health care funding available to providers during the pandemic. Chairman Pai said the FCC extended the RHC program window until June 30, 2020, eased competitive bidding requirements for providers with expired evergreen contracts, and extended a number of filing deadlines.

The Federal Communications Commission’s Wireline Competition Bureau approved an additional 70 funding applications for the COVID-19 Telehealth Program. Health care providers in both urban and rural areas of the country will use this $31.63 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 approved 514 funding applications in 46 states plus Washington, D.C.

The Federal Communications Commission’s Wireline Competition Bureau directed the Universal Service Administrative Company, which administers the FCC’s Rural Health Care Program, to carry forward up to $197.98 million in unused funds from prior funding years to the extent necessary to satisfy funding year 2020 demand for the Program. The Rural Health Care Program funding cap for funding year 2020 is $604.76 million.

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau will no longer accept new applications for funding from the COVID-19 Telehealth Program. Based on the applications received to date, demand for funding exceeds available Program funds and, as a result, the public interest is not served by imposing burdens on health care providers who may prepare new
applications that cannot be funded under the current appropriation. 

Sen Joe Manchin (D-WV) has been collecting speed tests from his constituents to turn over to the Federal Communication Commission to prove their broadband data maps are wrong. His initial goal of collecting 1,000 speed tests in 2020 was accomplished the week of June 22. He says he's now looking to reach 1,500 or even 2,000. “This just a small sampling,” Sen Manchin said. “This is happening all over America. Rural America is getting left behind.

The Federal Communications Commission approved an additional $29.41 million for 77 funding applications for the COVID-19 Telehealth Program. To date, the FCC’s COVID-19 Telehealth Program, which was authorized by the CARES Act, has approved 444 funding applications in 46 states plus Washington (DC) for a total of $157.64 million in funding. Below is a list of health care providers that were approved for funding:

Healthcare providers are hurting. As positive coronavirus cases increase in many rural parts of the country, hospitals and health clinics struggle to keep pace with the heightened demand for telehealth visits. Physicians are now seeing 50 to 175 times the number of patients via telehealth than they did prior to the pandemic. The increase in popularity is for good reason.