“The Federal Communications Commission said last week that it will use $200 million of COVID-19 funding from Congress to provide telehealth resources in low-income communities that lack connected care resources.”
“The temporary funding, however, is an alarm for lawmakers to support broadband and connective resources as a standard utility that all Americans should have access too, Federal Communications Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said during a Wednesday Brookings Institution webinar.”
“The FCC’s COVID-19 Telehealth Program, otherwise known as ‘Promoting Telehealth for Low-Income Consumers,’ provides grants to medical providers in low-income areas, rural and non-rural, that lack telemedicine resources.”
“The program only funds monitoring devices that are themselves connected and will only grant up to $1 million per eligible health care provider, but providing these resources will reinforce social distancing advisories while enabling continued and expanded care, Rosenworcel said.”
“’It’s not just for patients with COVID-19,’ Rosenworcel said of the program. It’s for patients who might be in a rural area who might have to drive in for a regular test of their diabetes or to a pregnancy checkup. They might be able to do these kind of things remotely and, in the process, not expose themselves to this virus.’”
“Despite the emergency funding, Rosenworcel also stressed that the COVID-19 pandemic brought to the forefront a digital divide for telehealth and broadband access in America that preexisted COVID-19…”
“FCC also said it will promote long-term telehealth with a three-year Connective Care Pilot Program, which will make $100 million available over three years to examine how the FCC’s Universal Service Fund can support connected care services, especially for lower-income Americans and veterans…” Read the full article here.
Source: FCC Uses COVID-19 Emergency Funds for Telehealth in Low-Income Areas – By Melissa Harris, April 8, 2020. GovernmentCIO.
