Here are a few high level points from the order and a link to the order below:
While the COVID-19 Telehealth Program reflects our consideration of the immediate need for connected care services during this pandemic, and is designed to distribute the $200 million appropriation from Congress to help health care providers provide connected care services to patients at their homes or mobile locations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The COVID-19 Telehealth Program will provide selected applicants full funding for eligible services and devices. The COVID-19 Telehealth Program has a congressionally appropriated $200 million budget, and these funds will be available until they are expended or until the current pandemic has ended. In order to ensure as many applicants as possible receive available funding, we do not anticipate awarding more than $1 million to any single applicant…in order to give each health care provider maximum flexibility to respond to changing circumstances during the pandemic, we do not require applicants to purchase only the services and connected devices identified in their applications. They may rather use awarded support to purchase any necessary eligible services and connected devices. In addition, applicants that have exhausted initially awarded funding may request additional support.
To be considered for participation in the COVID-19 Telehealth Program, interested eligible health care providers must submit applications that, at a minimum, contain the information detailed below.
- Names, addresses, county, and health care provider numbers (if available), 52 for health care providers seeking funding through the COVID-19 Telehealth Program application and the lead health care provider for applications involving multiple health care providers.
- Contact information for the individual that will be responsible for the application (telephone number, mailing address, and email address).
- Description of the anticipated connected care services to be provided, the conditions to be treated, and the goals and objectives. This should include a brief description of how COVID- 19 has impacted your area, your patient population, and the approximate number of patients that could be treated by the health care provider’s connected care services during the COVID- 19 pandemic. If you intend to use the COVID-19 Telehealth Program funding to treat patients without COVID-19, describe how this would free up your resources that will be used to treat COVID-19 and/or how this would otherwise prevent, prepare for, or respond to the disease by, for example, facilitating social distancing.
- Description of the estimated number of patients to be treated.
- Description of the telecommunications services, information services, or “devices necessary to enable the provision of telehealth services” requested, the total amount of funding requested, as well as the total monthly amount of funding requested for each eligible item. If requesting funding for devices, description of all types of devices for which funding is requested, how the devices are integral to patient care, and whether the devices are for patient use or for the health care provider’s use. As noted above, monitoring devices (e.g., pulse-ox, BP monitoring devices) will only be funded if they are themselves connected.
- Supporting documentation for the costs indicated in their application, such as a vendor or service provider quote, invoice, or similar information.
- A timeline for deployment of the proposed service(s) and a summary of the factors the applicant intends to track that can help measure the real impact supported services and devices
In order to ensure that we can promptly support health care providers currently working to address the ongoing pandemic, we will begin accepting applications for the COVID-19 Telehealth Program immediately after publication of this Report and Order and notice of the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) approval of the COVID-19 Telehealth Program information collection requirements in the Federal Register. We direct the Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) to review the COVID-19 Telehealth Program applications, select participants, and make funding awards on a rolling basis until the funding is exhausted or until the current pandemic has ended, consistent with the criteria outlined in this Report and Order.
We also direct the Bureau to announce the selected applicants and funding awards for the COVID-19 Telehealth Program applicants. The deadline for filing applications for the Pilot Program will be 45 days from the effective date of the Pilot Program rules or 120 days from the release date of this Report and Order, whichever is later. Instructions for Filing Applications. COVID-19 Telehealth Program applications must reference WC Docket No. 20-89, and must be filed electronically using the Internet by accessing ECFS, https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs, see Electronic Filing of Documents in Rulemaking Proceedings, 63 FR 24121 (1998). All filings must be addressed to the Commission’s Secretary, Office of the Secretary, Federal Communications Commission.