Telehealth and Virtual Care continues to be a focus of delivering safe, effective care during COVID and a cornerstone of addressing issues of access for rural and underserved populations.
As part of the CARES Act, $200 million was designated for telehealth programs and was quickly awarded to both large and small providers in an effort to rapidly increase the availability of virtual visits, remote monitoring and other types of connected care.
Continuing with that focus, the FCC will make funding available through the Universal Service Fund (USF) as the Connected Care Pilot Program (Pilot Program) to help defray the costs of providing connected care services. The emphasis on supporting these services will be for low-income Americans and Veterans. The Pilot Program will make available up to $100 million available over a three-year funding period and will be separate from the budgets of the existing Universal Service Fund (USF) programs.
For those projects that are selected, the Pilot Program will cover 85% of the eligible costs of
(1) patient broadband internet access services
(2) health care provider broadband data connections
(3) other connected care information services, and
(4) certain network equipment (e.g., equipment necessary to make a supported broadband service function such as routers)
Unlike the FCC Covid Telehealth Program, this will not fund end-user devices or medical equipment and will require a competitive bidding process. The intention is to address a wide variety of health challenges such as diabetes management, opioid dependency, high-risk pregnancies, pediatric heart disease, mental health conditions, and cancer. Information on eligibility and guidelines is available and the timeline is expected to be released soon. Organizations can submit an eligibility determination ahead of the full announcement – see links at end of this post.
Also in the interest of expanding coverage to rural areas, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a report on existing and upcoming efforts to improve rural healthcare. This report, the Rural Action Plan, is the first HHS-wide assessment of rural healthcare efforts in more than 18 years and the product of HHS’s Rural Task Force, a group of experts and leaders across the department first put together by Secretary Alex Azar in 2019.
This action plan provides a roadmap for HHS to strengthen departmental coordination to better serve the millions of Americans who live in rural communities across the United States. Eighteen HHS agencies and offices took part in developing the plan, which includes 71 new or expanded activities for FY 2020 and beyond. Efforts that will be undertaken in FY 2020 include nine new rural-focused administrative or regulatory actions, three new rural-focused technical assistance efforts, 14 new rural research efforts, and five new rural program efforts. These efforts build on 94 new rural-focused projects the HHS Rural Task Force identified as having launched over the past three years.
This report outlines the key challenges facing rural communities related to issues such as emerging health disparities, chronic disease burden, high rates of maternal mortality and limited access to mental health services. The plan lays out a four-point strategy to transform rural health and human services, with a number of actions that can be launched within weeks or months. The four points of the strategy are:
- Building a sustainable health and human services model for rural communities
- Leveraging technology and innovation
- Focusing on preventing disease and mortality
- Increasing rural access to care
More funding through programs like these and improved coordination across agencies and providers could provide the foundation for truly addressing how to deliver care when and where it is needed – especially for those most in need.
For more information:
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