Federal Communications Commission

For Immediate Release

FCC SURPASSES $100 MILLION IN APPROVED COVID-19 TELEHEALTH PROGRAM APPLICATIONS

 Commission Announces Tenth Set of Approved Funding Applications

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• Indian Health Center of Santa Clara Valley, in San Jose, California, was awarded $371,175 for laptops, tablets, phones, mobile hotspots, a telehealth platform subscription, videoconferencing equipment, and network upgrades to build an accessible health care system to help provide culturally appropriate health care services to the American Indian/Alaska Natives community, match patients with providers, and reduce strain on hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

WASHINGTON, June 10, 2020—The Federal Communications Commission’s Wireline Competition Bureau today approved an additional 67 funding applications for the COVID-19 Telehealth Program.  Health care providers in both urban and rural areas of the country will use this $20.18 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 funding for 305 health care providers in 42 states plus Washington, D.C. for a total of $104.98 million in funding.

 

“Since the adoption of the COVID-19 Telehealth Program, the FCC has acted quickly to review applications and approve funding so that more patients can be treated safely at home,” said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.  “We have already awarded funds to health care providers across our country, from Maine to the Navajo Nation, Washington to Florida, and Minnesota to Mississippi.  And we are already seeing the program’s positive impact on the health and wellness of our communities.  To give just one example, the program is enabling the UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh to remotely monitor children who have received organ transplants and are thus immunocompromised.  Additionally, the program is focused on mental as well as physical health.  More than 100 mental and behavioral health care providers have been awarded funding to ensure that their patients receive the treatment and support they need during the pandemic.  We will continue processing applications as quickly as we can in order to promote worthy telehealth projects across the country.”

 

Below is a list of health care providers that were approved for funding today:

 

• Access Community Health Centers, in Madison, Wisconsin, was awarded $92,323 for laptop computers, videoconferencing equipment, and a telehealth platform subscription to offer real-time video for patient telehealth visits and to continue providing both routine and emergency care throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

• Access Community Health Network, in Chicago, Illinois, was awarded $130,401 for desktop computers, a video telehealth platform, video monitors, and other telehealth equipment to expand the types and amount of telehealth visits offered to patients for primary care services and behavioral health during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

• Albert Einstein Medical Center, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was awarded $315,357 for a triage software license, a telehealth platform, laptop computers, tablets, videoconferencing equipment and software licenses, and a remote patient monitoring platform to serve a patient population at increased risk for adverse outcomes from COVID-19 infection and to help triage the busiest emergency department in the city.

 

• Asian Pacific Health Care Venture, in Los Angeles, California, was awarded $295,215 for telemedicine carts, desktop computers, tablets, remote monitoring equipment, videoconferencing software licenses, and network upgrades to allow care to be provided for the entire patient population virtually, including high-risk and vulnerable patients in chronic care management services who are vulnerable to COVID-19. 

 

• Atlantic General Hospital, in Berlin, Maryland, was awarded $51,425 for a telehealth platform subscription and telehealth equipment that will allow patients to keep medical appointments, obtain additional care and treatment from 45 primary and specialty providers, and screen for potential COVID-19 symptoms, all from their home. 

 

• Aultman Hospital, in Canton, Ohio, was awarded $294,749 for a telehealth platform, desktop computers, laptop computers, mobile hotspots, network upgrades, and telehealth equipment so patients can access medical care on any smartphone, tablet or computer, and receive COVID-19 care, urgent, behavioral, and primary care, and other services, including the ability for one-on-one communication with an experienced, board-certified physician. 

 

• Bayside Clinic, in Anahuac, Texas, was awarded $399,038 for a mobile health care kiosk, laptop computers, tablets, remote monitoring equipment, and network upgrades to increase remote work capabilities for medical staff and to provide on-demand virtual care with video and remote diagnostic equipment that allows a patient to present remotely to different clinic locations depending on demand or staff shortages, to see a provider who may be quarantined at home, or to connect with specialists located in neighboring big cities. 

 

• Calhoun County Mental Health, in Pittsboro, Mississippi, was awarded $102,397 for laptop computers, video monitors, and network upgrades that will allow staff members to connect remotely with high risk or vulnerable patients through telehealth and offer therapy, medication evaluation and monitoring, and other behavioral health services. 

 

• Children’s Aid, in Bronx, New York, was awarded $73,848 for desktop and laptop computers, tablets, software upgrades, and video equipment to allow clinicians to provide video and telephone consultations and remote behavioral health treatment to children affected by the COVID-19 pandemic who have serious risk factors and who are without access to regular medical care.

 

• Community Guidance Center, in Indiana, Pennsylvania, was awarded $70,198 for tablets and videoconferencing equipment and software to continue to offer all mental and behavioral health services to the high volume of new patients during the COVID-19 pandemic using telehealth.

 

• Community Hospital North, in Indianapolis, Indiana, was awarded $872,363 for telehealth platform subscriptions, laptop computers, tablets, and videoconferencing equipment and licenses to equip new, separate COVID-19 facilities with the full suite of monitoring technology available throughout the rest of the hospital and to facilitate real-time remote video communications between patients and clinicians. 

 

• Community Healthcare Network, in New York, New York, was awarded $180,734 for laptop computers and network upgrades to expand and improve the delivery of telehealth services to its patient population by using telehealth for all non-urgent visits, increasing video consults as appropriate, and providing treatment and monitoring for chronic conditions, including diabetes, asthma, mental health, psychiatry, and medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder.

 

• Fairview Health Services, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was awarded $598,000 for connected tablets to assigned patients in the inpatient setting for video visit capabilities with medical staff and family members, while other tablets will be mobile and used to monitor patients from the nurse station, to provide palliative care services to avoid prolonged potential exposure to COVID-19.  

 

• Family Practice and Counseling Network, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was awarded $206,763 for a telehealth platform and remote monitoring equipment to provide integrated telehealth and remote monitoring services to vulnerable patient populations, such as patients with multiple chronic diseases, pregnant women, and those affected directly by COVID-19.

 

• Finger Lakes Migrant Health Care Project, in Penn Yan, New York, was awarded $582,491 for laptop computers, tablets, telehealth video equipment, remote monitoring equipment, and network upgrades to assist in screening, testing, and treatment for COVID-19 patients in eight counties, as well as to provide ongoing critical services to patients throughout the pandemic by greatly increasing the amount of services provided through remote telehealth capabilities.

 

• Frontier Behavioral Health, in Spokane, Washington, was awarded $197,387 for laptop computers, smartphones, monitors, telehealth equipment, internet access service, and software licenses so clinicians can provide interactive telehealth services with patients via phone and video to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission while maintaining access to health care services.

 

• Gardner Health Services, in San Jose, California, was awarded $398,852 for laptop computers, video conferencing equipment, smartphones, mobile hotspots, and network upgrades to expand telehealth capacity and allow 80 medical, mental health and dental providers to offer remote services from home and clinic locations to prevent the spread of COVID-19. 

 

• George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates, in Washington, D.C., was awarded $817,248 for a patient telemedicine platform, laptop computers, tablets, remote monitoring equipment and licenses, connected diagnostic and examination equipment, videoconferencing equipment, and other software licenses to provide video consultation for possible COVID-19 positive patients, to offer remote monitoring of patients with confirmed cases of COVID-19 discharged from both outpatient services and the hospital, to conduct in-home testing for COVID-19 for high-risk patients, and to treat acute and chronic non-COVID-19 patients with telehealth.

 

• Greene County Health Care, in Snow Hill, North Carolina, was awarded $948,576 for remote monitoring and diagnostic equipment and a telehealth platform subscription to provide COVID-19 screenings using interactive voice recognition, as well as to monitor patients remotely using connected devices and to evaluate the monitoring data for abnormal readings and follow up care. 

 

• Hawarden Regional Healthcare, in Hawarden, Iowa, was awarded $14,356 for telemedicine carts, laptop computers, tablets, and videoconferencing equipment for health care providers to use for telehealth visits to help evaluate and treat patients, and to offer devices for acute/inpatient patients to use to keep in contact with family and friends while in the hospital. 

 

• Hillendahl Community Health Center, in Houston, Texas, was awarded $627,667 for telemedicine carts, tablets, and translation services to reduce the spread of COVID-19 by implementing telehealth solutions that will increase the number of patients served through virtual visits and provide patients the ability to monitor their health and seek treatment safely.

 

• HOPE Clinic, in Houston, Texas, was awarded $112,547 for laptop computers, tablets, and network upgrades to continue providing behavioral care to patients lacking access to remote care capabilities, and to provide education and distanced visits to patients arriving at one of four clinics in the greater Houston area.

 

• Indian Health Center of Santa Clara Valley, in San Jose, California, was awarded $371,175 for laptops, tablets, phones, mobile hotspots, a telehealth platform subscription, videoconferencing equipment, and network upgrades to build an accessible health care system to help provide culturally appropriate health care services to the American Indian/Alaska Natives community, match patients with providers, and reduce strain on hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

 

• Kansas City CARE Clinic, in Kansas City, Missouri, was awarded $90,400 for desktop computers, wall monitors, and telehealth software licenses to continue to upgrade its telehealth equipment and increase remote patient visits to minimize in-person COVID-19 virus transmission while continuing to provide routine, ongoing care, and acute care as well as supporting patients’ behavioral health care during the pandemic. 

 

• Lake Powell Medical Center, in Page, Arizona, was awarded $221,267 for telemedicine carts, laptop computers, pharmacy computers, and telehealth platform licenses to conduct outside screening and testing for COVID-19 and to allow other patients to communicate with their health care provider from the safety of their home. 

 

• Legacy Medical Care, in Arlington Heights, Illinois, was awarded $48,591 for laptop computers, telecommunications equipment, network upgrades, and videoconferencing equipment so health care providers can engage patients in telehealth visits through the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, and to allow telephone-only encounters with patients. 

 

• Leyden Family Health Service and Mental Health Center, in Franklin Park, Illinois, was awarded $1,468 for phones, wireless data plans and videoconferencing software to provide distanced behavioral health treatment and to prevent hospitalizations to free up hospitals to better manage the COVID-19 crisis. 

 

• The Los Angeles Free Clinic, in Los Angeles, California, was awarded $260,959 for laptop computers, video monitors, telehealth equipment, and remote monitoring devices to provide self-monitoring devices for uninsured patients to use at home to monitor chronic conditions, such as uncontrolled hypertension and/or diabetes, and to report readings to their provider through video or phone consultations. 

 

• LUK Behavioral Clinic, in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, was awarded $28,919 for tablets and mobile hotspots patients can use for access to behavioral health telehealth sessions and laptops with accessories for clinicians to provide those services.

 

• Mahaska County Hospital, in Oskaloosa, Iowa, was awarded $68,620 for laptop computers and telehealth conferencing equipment to increase telehealth capacity and connect more health care providers and other healthcare professionals with patients and to support virtual meetings with patient families.  

 

• Manna Ministries, in Picayune, Mississippi, was awarded $75,358 for laptop computers, remote monitoring equipment, and phones to continue providing access to health care during the COVID-19 pandemic, including by using telehealth capabilities to offer remote monitoring services to patients throughout southern Mississippi and Louisiana.

 

• Meridian Health Services, in Muncie, Indiana, was awarded $240,669 for telemedicine carts, remote diagnostic equipment, and a telehealth platform subscription to provide acute and preventive care to patients remotely by screening, diagnosing, and treating while patients are in their homes. 

 

• Missouri Delta Physician Services, in Sikeston, Missouri, was awarded $273,522 for laptops, tablets, remote monitoring equipment, telehealth equipment, and network upgrades to conduct voice and video consultation and remote treatment and monitoring of patients in several clinics throughout southeastern Missouri. 

 

• New Path Mental Health Services, in Golden Valley, Minnesota, was awarded $15,500 for laptop computers to be used by therapists to continue mental health treatment using telehealth services.

 

• The Nord Center, in Lorain, Ohio, was awarded $101,294 for laptop computers, smartboards, telecommunications equipment, and network upgrades to greatly increase access to care by using connected devices to safely monitor and treat patients.

 

• Northeast Medical Group, in Stratford, Connecticut, was awarded $494,839 for a telehealth platform license and associated hardware to treat economically vulnerable patients with chronic health conditions.  

 

• Northern Kentucky Mental Health, in Covington, Kentucky, was awarded $452,166 for laptop computers, tablets, wireless data service, and telehealth conferencing software to offer behavioral health services by distributing connected devices to at-risk patients who lack internet access and by using laptops with a camera to provide connected care services to patients.

 

• Northwestern Memorial HealthCare, in Chicago, Illinois, was awarded $1,000,000 to help support the costs of a telehealth platform, thermal temperature screening system, remote radiology workstations, remote patient monitoring equipment, and network upgrades to implement a telehealth platform to support outpatient services for patients, to maintain safe health practices in the hospitals, and to diagnose medical issues by remote reading of medical images. 

 

• NYC Health + Hospitals, in New York, New York, was awarded $1,000,000 for a telehealth platform, smartphones, remote monitoring platform subscription, and remote monitoring equipment to offer virtual urgent care for patients with COVID-19 and an at-home monitoring program for patients with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 to monitor patient symptoms.

 

• Ocean Mental Health Services, in Bayville, New Jersey, was awarded $58,336 for laptop computers and mobile hotspots to provide the entire outreach group with laptops so they can offer psychiatric, nursing, and primary care appointments via telehealth and reduce exposure to COVID-19. 

 

• PCC Community Wellness Center, in Oak Park, Illinois, was awarded $393,575 for telecommunications and videoconferencing equipment and software licenses to implement and expand telehealth services during the COVID-19 crisis at twelve health care sites to continue providing primary care, behavioral health, and dental services to low-income and vulnerable patient populations through the use of telehealth services. 

 

• People’s Community Clinic, in Austin, Texas, was awarded $136,214 for telehealth platform subscriptions, videoconferencing licenses, laptop computers, and remote monitoring equipment to provide telemonitoring devices for patient use so providers can continue care management while the patient remains at home, and other devices for providers to facilitate telehealth visits with patients to prevent the spread of COVID-19. 

 

• PrimeCare West, in Chicago, Illinois, was awarded $260,517 for laptop computers and videoconferencing equipment to deliver primary care, health education, and behavioral health services to an underserved patient population in Chicago. 

 

• Prism Health, in Portland, Oregon, was awarded $28,131 for video conferencing software licenses and equipment, laptop computers, and mobile hot spots to offer remote video consultations and nurse triage and visits conducted via telehealth for patients with COVID-19 symptoms.

 

• Providence St. Joseph Health Consortium, in Renton, Washington, was awarded $866,750 for connected COVID-19 kits to include tablets, Bluetooth thermometers, blood pressure monitors, and pulse oximeters, as well as connected stethoscopes to be employed at seven hospitals in Washington and Oregon.

 

• Renown Regional Medical Center, in Reno, Nevada, was awarded $977,720 for a virtual screening system, remote patient monitoring equipment, laptop computers, tablets, and telehealth equipment to limit COVID-19 exposure by using telemedicine in the acute, transitional care, and ambulatory settings, to implement a COVID-19 virtual screening portal to treat patients from home, and to deploy a telehealth intensive care unit to deliver high quality care to COVID-19 patients.  

 

• Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, in Buffalo, New York, was awarded $600,456 for network upgrades and security equipment, as well as teleconferencing software licenses, to provide virtual patient visits to continue comprehensive cancer care, including surgery, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiation therapy, imaging diagnostics, and regular checkups, while reducing the exposure of an at-risk patient population and clinical staff.

 

• Sharon Lee Family Health Care, in Kansas City, Kansas, was awarded $23,015 for laptop and desktop computers, smartphones, and network upgrade equipment to perform distanced patient consultations as well as remote monitoring and treatment and drive-thru lab testing. 

 

• Southeast Arkansas Behavioral Healthcare, in Stuttgart, Arkansas, was awarded $36,231 for videoconferencing equipment and licenses to offer virtual mental health care to patients in five primarily rural counties.

 

• Southern Illinois Hospital Services, in Carbondale, Illinois, was awarded $242,600 for a telehealth platform subscription to provide safe emergency, inpatient, and outpatient care remotely and help patients with a reluctance to physically travel for medical care during the COVID-19 pandemic receive treatment. 

 

• Squirrel Hill Health Center, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was awarded $144,940 for tablets, telecommunications equipment, and a health care data reporting and analytics platform to continue providing primary and preventive medical services to underserved patient populations during the COVID-19 crisis, including prenatal care, geriatric medical services, and behavioral health services.

 

• St. John’s Health, in Jackson, Wyoming, was awarded $57,499 for a telehealth platform subscription, network upgrades, laptop computers, tablets, and videoconferencing equipment so medical staff can connect with greater numbers of patients at home or in remote clinics, limiting unnecessary travel and reducing potential exposure to the COVID-19 virus. 

 

• St. Lawrence Health System, in Potsdam, New York, was awarded $615,545 for laptop computers, a telehealth platform, and a remote patient monitoring platform to offer real-time video and audio consultations for patients distanced during the COVID-19 crisis and to expand remote patient monitoring infrastructures in rooms of hospitalized patients. 

 

• St. Thomas Community Health Center, in New Orleans, Louisiana, was awarded $999,700 for telehealth enhanced smartphones to provide patient care via a connected telehealth platform that also includes remote monitoring applications, such as a thermometer, pulse oximeter, blood pressure cuff, and blood sugar monitor, that can be tailored to the needs of each patient to employ live, connected chronic disease and COVID-19 care management.

 

• St. Vincent General Hospital District, in Leadville, Colorado, was awarded $2,796 for a telehealth platform subscription to deliver telehealth services to patients at the patient’s residence and increase access to care. 

 

• Sto-Rox Family Health Center, in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, was awarded $34,489 for laptops, VPN licenses, and other network improvements that will allow additional employees the ability to provide remote telehealth care to COVID-19 patients.

 

• T.H.E. Clinic, in Los Angeles, California, was awarded $80,894 for computers, telehealth equipment, and software licenses to provide behavioral health and patient education individually and in groups using remote telehealth. 

 

• Unity Care Northwest, in Bellingham, Washington, was awarded $302,000 for desktop computers, network upgrades, videoconferencing equipment, and software licenses to help expand telehealth services during the COVID-19 pandemic to reduce patient and staff exposure while maintaining patient access and service needs. 

 

• University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, in Iowa City, Iowa, was awarded $266,944 for telehealth software licenses, tablets, network upgrades, and remote monitoring equipment to screen virtually patients who have COVID-19 symptoms prior to an in-person encounter, to manage COVID-19 positive patients remotely to decrease unnecessary inpatient admissions, and to perform virtual outpatient visits for patients at higher risk for COVID-19 to minimize the need to travel and face exposure to other patients and health care workers.

 

• UPMC Bedford, in Everett, Pennsylvania, was awarded $22,520 for telehealth equipment and software licenses to expand telehealth capabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic for nearly all specialties including critical and ambulatory care.

 

• UPMC Hanover, in Hanover, Pennsylvania, was awarded $264,969 for telemedicine carts, telehealth workstations, tablets, remote monitoring equipment, and videoconferencing equipment to continue to treat patients in the hospital with reduced need for PPE and in-person visits, to expand video visits to outpatient practices and specialty offices, and to provide home monitoring and care. 

 

• UPMC Passavant, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was awarded $216,502 for laptop computers and a telehealth platform to increase the volume of telehealth visits for all specialties and services to facilitate remote care, conserve PPE, and stop the spread of COVID-19 by remotely screening patients who may have COVID-19 to determine if they should report to the hospital for COVID-19 testing. 

 

• Valley Presbyterian Hospital, in Van Nuys, California, was awarded $381,642 for a virtual care platform and network upgrades to consult and treat COVID-19 positive or suspect patients who are under isolation precautions without entering the patient room and to enhance the tele-intensive care unit program, and to bolster the internal network and WiFi to accommodate outdoor testing and screening stations at the hospital.

 

• Vitality Integrated Programs, in Elko, Nevada, was awarded $180,050 for a telehealth platform, remote monitoring and diagnostic equipment, laptop computers, and tablets to offer patients behavioral health services and treatment for mental health concerns, substance abuse, and medication management by employing telehealth. 

 

• Volunteers of America Oregon, in Portland, Oregon, was awarded $740,513 for a telehealth platform, laptop computers, videoconferencing equipment and software, network upgrades, and other software licenses to support health care providers who will be able to provide care from outpatient facilities or their home to diagnose and treat patients for substance use, mental health, and behavioral health issues using telehealth.

 

• Wayne HealthCare, in Greenville, Ohio, was awarded $2,082 for tablets and phones to expand telehealth and to provide communication with patients’ families after urgent care, emergency surgery, and other treatment or services when families are excluded from the clinic. 

 

• Woodland Centers, in Willmar, Minnesota, was awarded $118,294 for mobile hotspots, telemedicine upgrades to computers, video monitors, remote monitoring equipment, and network upgrades to conduct mental health and substance use services by video or telephone for patients across seven counties. 

 

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.  To learn more about the FCC’s Keep Americans Connected Initiative, visit https://www.fcc.gov/keepamericansconnected.