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 e

[This program is no longer making new awards; however, financial reporting on outstanding expenditures is still ongoing.] The COVID-19 Telehealth Program provides funding to eligible health care providers responding to the COVID-19 pandemic to support the telecommunications services, information services, and connected devices needed to provide critical connected care and help health care providers provide telehealth and connected care services to patients at their homes or mobile locations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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.

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.

Support from the COVID-19 Telehealth Program is available until the program budgets are exhausted or until the pandemic has ended, whichever is soonest.

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.

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).

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.