COVID-19 Telehealth Program

 

In response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, communities and health care providers are turning to telemedicine to enable social distancing measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. As a result, many health care providers are expanding existing telehealth services and implementing new telehealth services, and the demand for connected care services provided directly to patients in their homes or mobile locations is skyrocketing. In response, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, signed into law on March 27, 2020, provided, among a panoply of other actions, $200 million to the Federal Communications Commission (Commission or FCC) to support health care providers in the fight against the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The FCC, to effectuate Congress intent in enacting the CARES Act, established a COVID-19 Telehealth Program (Program) to distribute an appropriated budget of $200 million to help eligible health care providers maximize their provision of connected care services during the COVID-19 pandemic. To build on the success of Round 1 of the Commissions COVID-19 Telehealth Program, in the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2021, Congress appropriated an additional $249.95 million for this Program (Round 2). First, Congress directed the Commission to seek comment on the metrics the Commission should use to evaluate applications for funding and how the Commission should treat applications filed during the funding rounds for awards from the [Program] using amounts appropriated under the CARES Act . . . . Second, it instructed the Commission, to the extent feasible, to ensure that at least one applicant from all 50 states and the District of Columbia is awarded funds during either of the Programs funding rounds. Third, the Consolidated Appropriations Act directed the Commission to allow applicants from Round 1 the opportunity to update or amend their applications.

Active 32.006 Federal Communications Commission (Fcc) C - Direct Payments For Specified Use Not applicable. Public Law 116-CARES Act, Pub. L. No. 116-136, 134 Stat. 281 (2020)
Public Law 116-Consolidated Appropriations Act 2021, Pub. L. No. 116-260, Division N-Additional Coronavirus Response and Relief, Title IX-Broadband Internet Access Service, § 903 “FCC COVID-19 Telehealth Program” (2020)
In 2020, the CARES Act appropriated $200 million to the Commission “to support efforts of health care providers to address coronavirus by providing telecommunications services, information services, and devices necessary to enable the provision of telehealth services” during the pendency of the COVID-19 pandemic. CARES Act, Pub. L. No. 116-136, 134 Stat. 281 (2020). The Consolidated Appropriations Act provided additional funding: “[O]ut of amounts in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, there is appropriated $249,950,000 in additional funds for the COVID-19 Telehealth Program, of which $50,000 shall be transferred by the Commission to the Inspector General of the Commission for oversight of the COVID-19 Telehealth Program.” Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, Pub. L. No: 116-260, Division N-Additional Coronavirus Response and Relief, Title IX-Broadband Internet Access Service, § 903 “FCC COVID-19 Telehealth Program” (2020). The legislation required the FCC to adopt additional requirements and processes to further fund telehealth and connected care services. Consistent with the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, and the CARES Act and the Consolidated Appropriations Act, eligible nonprofit and public eligible health care providers fall within the categories of health care providers in section 254(h)(7)(B) and include: (1) post-secondary educational institutions offering health care instruction, teaching hospitals, and medical schools; (2) community health centers or health centers providing health care to migrants; (3) local health departments or agencies; (4) community mental health centers; (5) not-for-profit hospitals; (6) rural health clinics; (7) skilled nursing facilities; or (8) consortia of health care providers consisting of one or more entities falling into the first seven categories. Eligible entities include a dedicated emergency room of a rural, for-profit hospital or a part-time eligible entity located in an ineligible facility. Eligible entities can be located in rural or non-rural areas, and can operate from a temporary or mobile location. Eligible health care providers (as identified in the Applicant Eligibility Section) that receive awards are encouraged, to the extent practicable, to target funding that they receive for eligible telecommunications services, information services, and connected devices for high-risk and vulnerable patients. Applicants must file an eligibility form, FCC Form 460, to participate in the program. To apply for program funding, applicants must submit a COVID-19 Program Funding Application. And, to seek program reimbursement, funding recipients must submit a Request for Reimbursement form. Each form requires the filer to certify to a set of requirements for the program under penalty of perjury. Preapplication coordination is not applicable. 2 CFR 200, Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards applies to this program. The application periods are closed. Applicants were notified of funding award amounts through a funding commitment letter. After eligible services and devices have been provided to the health care provider(s), applicants will submit requests for reimbursement to receive disbursements. Requests for reimbursements must list all of the eligible health care provider sites under the application for which reimbursement is sought, even if these were not listed on the original application. Applicants selected to receive funding receive notification of the funding award in a funding commitment letter that sets forth the amount of funding that has been approved. On January 26, 2022, the FCC approved the sixth and final group of funding commitments under Round 2 of the Program (DA 22-88). The Commission stopped accepting applications for Round 1 of COVID-19 Telehealth Program funding on June 25, 2020. Applications for Round 2 were accepted from April 29, 2021, through May 6, 2021. Approval/denial notifications are sent on a rolling basis. Due to the unique nature of each application and review, there is not a standard date range for when decisions are issued. Any interested person may petition for reconsideration of a final Commission action. The petition for reconsideration and any supplement thereto shall be filed within 30 days from the date of public notice of the final Commission action, as that date is defined in 47 CFR ? 1.4(b). Any person aggrieved by any Commission action taken pursuant to delegated authority may file an application requesting review of that action. The application for review and any supplemental thereto shall be filed within 30 days of public notice of such action, as that date is defined in 47 CFR ? 1.4(b). In the Consolidated Appropriations Act, Congress directs the Commission to "issue notice to the applicant of the intent of the Commission to deny the application and the grounds for that decision" for any application the Commission chooses to deny and to "provide the applicant with 10 days to submit any supplementary information that the applicant determines relevant," which must be taken into account for the final funding decisions. Concurrent with the release of this Initial Phase Completion Public Notice (DA 21-1403), the Wireline Competition Bureau sent all applicants that did not receive a funding commitment during the initial commitment phase an Intent to Deny Letter, stating the application's score, the list of metrics for which the application is currently receiving points, and the reason that the application was not awarded funding during the initial commitment phase. As provided in the statute, applicants had ten days from the date of this notice to supplement their applications. The ten-day period began on Tuesday, November 9, and ended at 5 PM ET on Friday, November 19. Not applicable. Health care providers were required to submit applications to the FCC containing descriptions of the intended use of the funding. Applications will were reviewed by the FCC. For Round 1, the FCC's goal was to target funding to areas that have been particularly hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and where the support will have the most impact on addressing health care needs. The Wireline Competition Bureau made funding decisions based on these criteria and the information included in the application. For Round 2, prior to making funding recommendations to the Wireline Competition Bureau for the Bureau to review and approve, USAC evaluated funding applications against a set of Round 2 Evaluation Metrics: For Hardest Hit Areas, applicants must provide health care provider county, and receive up to 15 points. For Low-Income Areas, applicants must provide health care provider physical address and county and receive up to 15 points. For Round 1 Unfunded Applicants, applicants must provide unique application number from Round 1, and receive 15 points. For Tribal Communities, applicants must provide physical address and/or provide supporting documentation to verify Indian Health Service or Tribal affiliation, and receive 15 points. For Critical Access Hospitals, applicants must provide proof of Critical Access Hospital certification, and receive 10 points. For Federally Qualified Health Centers, Federally Qualified Health Center Look-Alikes or Disproportionate Share Hospitals, applicants must (1) provide proof of Federally Qualified Health Center certification, or (2) demonstrate qualification as a Federally Qualified Health Center Look-Alike, or (3) demonstrate qualification as a Disproportionate Share Hospital, and receive 10 points. For Healthcare Provider Shortage Areas, applicants must provide Healthcare Provider Shortage Area ID number or health care provider county, and receive up to 10 points. For Round 2 New Applicants, applicants must certify, under penalty of perjury, that the applicant has not previously applied for Program funding, and receive 5 points. For Rural Counties, applicants must provide health care provider county, and receive 5 points. Equitable Distribution. Funding commitments were first issued to the highest-scoring applications with a lead health care provider in a state or territory that did not have an application with a lead health care provider from that state or territory receive Round 1 funding. Next, funding commitments were issued to the highest scoring applications from each state, territory, and the District of Columbia, in which a lead health care provider applicant from that geographic location did receive Round 1 funding. Finally, the program committed funding to the second-highest-scoring application, if such an application existed, with a lead health care provider in a state or territory that did not have an application with a lead health care provider from that state or territory receive Round 1 funding. Highest-Scoring Applications. After ensuring that funding was committed across all states, territories, and the District of Columbia, the program committed funding to the highest-scoring applications, in descending order, until at least $150 million had been committed in the initial commitment window. Once $150 million in funding had been committed, any applications with the same score as the last application to receive a funding commitment also received a funding commitment, and the remaining appropriated funds were rolled over into the final commitment window. Once all initial commitment awardees were determined, a Public Notice was released announcing those awardees, the amount of their awards, and the remaining funding available for the final commitment window (Initial Phase Completion Public Notice - DA 21-1403). Designations: Health/Medical The COVID-19 Telehealth Program provides support to purchase telecommunications services, information services, and connected devices necessary to enable the provision of telehealth services. Selected applicants receive full funding for eligible services and devices. Funding may only be applied to eligible services and devices. Not applicable. The program is subject to oversight and audit by the Comptroller General of the United States (Comptroller General) under section 19010 of the CARES Act. Participating health care providers, state and local agencies, contractors, grantees, and recipients and subrecipients, including private entities, may be subject to compliance audits and other investigations to ensure compliance with program rules and orders. Participants may also subject to any audit program the Office of Managing Director adopts, and is subject to audits of the FCC OIG per the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, H.R. 133, div. O, tit. VIII--Pandemic Response Accountability Committee Amendments ? 801, Amendment to the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (2020). Participants in the COVID-19 Telehealth Program must maintain records related to their participation in the COVID-19 Telehealth Program to demonstrate their compliance with the program requirements for at least three years from the last date of service under this program and must present that information to the Commission or its delegates, the Comptroller General, the Committee, and appropriate congressional committees, upon request. Documentation includes, but is not limited to, records demonstrating eligibility for the program, documentation related to the application and records demonstrating proof of payment and receipt of eligible services and devices for which the health care provider sought reimbursement through the program. Statutory formula is not applicable to this assistance listing.

Matching requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing.

MOE requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing. Support from the COVID-19 Telehealth Program is available until the program budgets are exhausted or until the pandemic has ended, whichever is soonest. Assistance is awarded through a funding commitment letter issued to funding recipients. Recipients may then submit invoices against these commitments for FCC approval and payment. Federal Communications Commission, Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB) Headquarters Office 45 L ST NE Washington, DC 20554 Nathan Eagan
45 L ST NE
Washington, DC 20554 USA
Nathan.Eagan@fcc.gov
Phone: 202-418-7400 https://www.fcc.gov 27-0100-0-1-376 (Direct Payments for Specified Use) FY 22$165,900,000.00; FY 23 est $0.00; FY 24 est $0.00; FY 21$33,461,171.00; FY 20$200,000,000.00; FY 19$0.00; - The FCC has not awarded more than $1 million to a single applicant and does not anticipate awarding more than $1 million to a single applicant through any of its remaining awards. The Commission established the Program through a Report and Order released on April 2, 2020 , available at https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-20-44A1.pdf; and has released other FCC Public Notices, forms, and announcements for the program (Round 1). On February 2, 2021, the Commission released a Report and Order (Round 2 Administration Report and Order) (available at https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-21-24A1.pdf) expanding the administrative responsibilities of the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) to administer the Program with the Commission's oversight. On March 30, 2021, the Commission released a Report and Order (https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-21-39A1.pdf) establishing requirements, processes, and procedures for Round 2 of Program funding. Program information on Round 2 can be found at https://www.usac.org/about/covid-19-telehealth-program/ Original program information is located at: https://www.fcc.gov/covid-19-telehealth-program-invoices-reimbursements Fiscal Year 2020 The program provides support to eligible health care providers responding to the COVID-19 pandemic by funding the telecommunications services, information services, and devices necessary to provide telehealth services.
Fiscal Year 2021 The program provides support to eligible health care providers responding to the COVID-19 pandemic by funding the telecommunications services, information services, and devices necessary to provide telehealth services.