The Federal Communications Commission’s Wireline Competition Bureau has approved another $16.46 million in FCC COVID-19 Telehealth awards.
The most recent funding covers 53 programs and brings the total approved funding up to $84.96 million for 238 health care providers across 41 states, plus Washington, D.C. for a total of $84.96 million in funding.
The program was first announced at the end of March, as reported by Telecompetitor.
FCC COVID-19 Awards
Facilities in 19 states and Washington D.C. received awards in the most recent round of funding.
The largest award in this ninth set of funding announced by the FCC was for $1 million, two other awards were for more than $900,000 each, and a fourth was for nearly that much.
Receiving the biggest award was Providence St. Joseph Health Consortium, in Renton, Wash., which received $1 million for telemedicine carts, telehealth monitors, and internet access to offer two-way audio/video provider-to-patient consultations and clinical assessments for use in emergency departments and intensive care units across the entire health system and to permit quarantined medical personnel to evaluate patients from a remote location.
Washington was the first state in the nation to report an outbreak of COVID-19. In all, the state was awarded about $2 million for a total of four projects. The state receiving the most and highest dollar amount of awards in the most recent announcement was New York, with six awards totaling about $2.1 million. Ohio, with four awards; Louisiana, three; and Michigan, with two, were other states topping the $1 million total mark in this award announcement, at about $1.1 million each.
The smallest of the most recent awards went to Vermont Psychological Services, in Charlotte, Vt., which was awarded $7,171 for computers, tablets, and telehealth software to continue providing behavioral health services for patients with COVID-19 using telehealth, according to the FCC press release about the COVID-19 awards.
