The Federal Communications Commission recently published application details on its $100 million Connected Care Pilot Program, which aims to enhance telehealth access for low-income Americans and veterans.
FCC released the additional details for the program as well as application instructions on Sept. 3. The agency first introduced the Connected Care program in 2018.
Five things to know:
1. Connected Care will be a three-year program that provides $100 million in grants to cover 85 percent of telehealth programs' connectivity costs, including patient broadband internet access services, provider broadband data connections and certain network equipment.
2. The program will not fund telehealth devices, such as end-user connected devices like tablets and remote patient monitoring equipment, medical equipment, provider administrative costs or personnel costs. It also will not fund network deployment, construction of networks between healthcare providers or connectivity between provider sites.
3. Connected Care is open to eligible providers in rural or non-rural areas but is limited to nonprofit and public providers including post-secondary educational institutions, teaching hospitals, medical schools, community health centers, rural health clinics and community mental health centers.
4. Providers can now determine their eligibility in the program by filing a FCC Form 460 with the Universal Service Administrative Co. to receive a healthcare provider number and eligibility determination, both of which are required for applying to Connected Care.
5. FCC established final rules for Connected Care in April; the agency said that additional details such as timing of the pilot program application window and other necessary steps will be announced in a future public notice.
Click here to view the full public notice.