FCC’s $550 Million Telehealth Program – Last Chance at $250 Million and How’s The Money Being Spent?

The following is a guest article by Sid Kandan, CEO at Stel Life, Inc.

Applications for the FCC’s $250M Telehealth Program are due tomorrow (5/6) at noon. With last year’s $200M Telehealth Program and $100M Connected Care Pilot Program, this combined $550M investment is the government’s largest investment into connected health devices and services. 

As health care providers, government agencies, and companies unite to better address healthcare’s digital divide during this unprecedented pandemic, the COVID-19 Telehealth Program was appropriated “from Congress to help health care providers provide connected care services to patients at their homes”. Eligible health care providers can apply for up to $1M in funding for connected health solutions to deliver care “directly to patients outside of traditional brick and mortar medical facilities—including specifically to patients at their mobile location or residence”.

This program offers a case study on digital health adoption by care teams and health systems. Invoices and program reports for the first round are officially due in July, however, our team has aggregated all the applications from the first round for anyone interested in reviewing the data.

We have also begun a Round 2 review similarly to how other journalists have categorized the investments into three categories: 1) Solutions to help bridge the digital divide for patients, 2) Solutions for patients with Wifi or the latest smartphones, and 3) Tools for staff-only (not for patients).  Here’s a summary of the round 1 applications.

Round 1 Applications:

  • Category 1 – 128 Awarded Applications (totaling $55,766,727) – solutions only for patients with smartphones and/or Wifi
  • Category 2 – 130 Awarded Applications (totaling $67,347,198) – included solutions for patients struggling with Digital Divide
  • Category 3 – 281 Awarded Applications (totaling $76,886,075) – devices were for staff only (not for patients)

Notable examples and program reports from Round 1:

Digital Divide – 

Patients with Wifi or smartphones – 

  • Ochsner scaled their “Connected MOM” program to 3,868 patients

Staff only devices –

Funding allocated, but not disbursed –

Round 1 program reports 

During the FCC Telehealth Program update on Feb 17, 2021, the Wireline Competition Bureau shared:

  • Nearly 30% of the CARES Act funding (nearly $60M) had not been disbursed.
  • Nearly 16% of Awardees (86/539 awardees) had not filed invoices.

Round 2 Program Applications submitted between April 29 – May 2:

  • $32,543,209.13 – Total $ Requested
  • $19,084,865.49 – Total $ documented in applications and/or publicly available supplemental materials 
  • $10,331,032.54 of documented items are explicitly on ineligible list provided #27 on FAQ despite “providers should not include the cost of ineligible items in their funding application.” 

85 round 2 applications containing:

  • 15 solutions ($1,325,659.39)- For patients experiencing Digital Divide
  • 12 solutions ($857,279.63) – For patients with latest smartphones + wifi
  • 54 solutions ($7,974,001.98) – Staff devices and services (Not for patients)
  • 37 solutions ($8,927,924.49) – Inpatient equipment and staffing

Closing thoughts:

USAC and the FCC deserve praise for all their hard work in rolling out this historic program! Given the accelerated timeline of the Round 1 roll out and the enormous number of submissions (4000+), both organizations have performed a herculean feat with the first Round of FCC applications! Especially as this was all executed amidst a global pandemic. We can only imagine the magnitude of work involved in administering these funds. 

We have personally seen this program help patients without smartphones, WiFi, or tech-literacy transmit over 300k vitals to their care team’s electronic health records. This historic investment into connected health devices has not only supported vulnerable populations during an unprecedented pandemic, but it has also improved access for these populations, especially as the channels for care have changed. It has been a privilege to assist providers on the frontline of the pandemic and we are excited by continued investments to help connect communities experiencing the digital divide.

About Sid Kandan

Stel created a Connected Health Hub and Operating System to support care teams, patients, and digital health platforms and devices. Stel can support any digital health platform, device company, or care team hoping to address the digital divide.

   

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