The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau has announced the 12th wave of funding approvals in the CARES Act Telehealth Program. The 77 CARES Act telehealth awards spanned 30 states and are valued at $29.41 million. It brings the total awarded to date to $157.64 million. The FCC now has approved 444 applications in 46 states and the District of Columbia.
The approvals mean that only about $42 million of the $200 million mandated in the CARES Act remains to be awarded. The program was approved in March to help communities deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sixteen states had multiple approvals in this group. They are New York with 12 approvals, Pennsylvania (8), Texas, New Jersey and Ohio (5 each), Michigan and California (4 each), Kansas and Indiana (3 each) and Missouri, South Dakota, Florida, Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota and Illinois (2 each). Fourteen states had one award each.
As usual, there was a big gulf between the largest and smallest approvals. On the high side, several approvals were at or near the $1 million mark:
- Broward Health Medical Center (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) was awarded $1,000,000 for tablets, web cameras, a telehealth platform, telehealth intensive care units, and network upgrades across several facilities to expand access to care for patients who are disproportionately affected by chronic disease and immunocompromised patients.
- New York Presbyterian-(Flushing, NY) was awarded $1,000,000 for tablets and telemedicine carts to provide specialty care, remote monitoring kits with pulse oximeters and oxygen concentrators to allow safe discharge of patients with continued home monitoring and telehealth platforms that can connect patients with urgent care, primary care and specialty providers from home.
- Geisinger Medical Center (Danville, PA) was awarded $978,935 for tablet computers, remote monitoring equipment, and telehealth platform licenses to provide access to care by providing telehealth visits for primary care appointments and all 72 health care specialties within the medical center.
- Stony Brook University Hospital (Stony Brook, NY) was awarded $966,026 for tablets, smartphones, a telehealth platform subscription, and remote monitoring equipment and a platform to provide remote, ongoing care for high-risk patients, enhanced virtual visits, safe and effective hospital triage, increased remote consults with tablet computers and to care by distributing smartphones to patients in need.
- Baystate Medical Center (Springfield, MA), was awarded $927,146 for remote monitoring platforms focused on obstetrics, diabetes, and hypertension, tablets for distribution to patients and providers and videoconferencing equipment to enable telehealth visits and treatment network upgrades, and kiosks to offer telehealth visits at community hospitals.
At the lighter end of the CARES Act telehealth awards scale:
- UPMC Magee Women’s Hospital (Pittsburgh) was awarded $4,220 for smartphones, data plans, and remote monitoring applications to provide to COVID-19 and other patients to extend ongoing care and monitoring.
- Tuscola County Health Department (Caro, MI) was awarded $9,015 for laptop computers and tablets to offer remote consults and communications with patients while keeping providers and patients distanced.
- Pinebrook Family Answers (Allentown, PA) was awarded $9,243 for laptop computers and videoconferencing equipment and licenses to offer remotely an array of outpatient psychiatric and counseling services the Greater Lehigh Valley Region.
- Youth Development Clinic of Newark (Newark, NJ) was awarded $9,250 for laptop computers and tablets to provide video-based mental health and crisis mental health services to children, families, and parents, including to adult clients without access to telehealth services that will operate on the city of Newark’s free Wi-Fi services.
The last approval announcement of CARES Act telehealth awards was made a week ago when 62 awards totaling $23.2 million were made.
