The Federal Communications Commission FCC recently adopted the $200 million COVID-19 Telehealth Program in response to the COVID-19 public health emergency. This program will provide immediate support to certain health care providers by funding their telecommunications services, information services, and devices necessary to provide telehealth services. ACI Alliance believes this may be applicable to cochlear implant services for audiology and speech-language pathology.
For eligible health sites, the funds would cover additional purchased laptops, devices, and programs. We encourage our Member Organizations and other institutions to review the full requirements to see if their program may aid their ability to provide telehealth services.
To be eligible, providers must obtain an eligibility determination from the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) but can still apply while they await the decision from the USAC. Potential providers are limited to:
- post-secondary educational institutions offering health care instruction, teaching hospitals, and medical schools;
- community health centers or health centers providing health care to migrants;
- local health departments or agencies;
- community mental health centers;
- not-for-profit hospitals;
- rural health clinics;
- skilled nursing facilities;
- or consortia of health care providers consisting of one or more entities from the previous categories.
Additional information on the COVID-19 Telehealth Program, including FAQs and tips to navigate the application, can be found here. Additional questions on the Program can be sent directly to the FCC at EmergencyTelehealthSupport@fcc.gov.
Read more on COVID-19 updates here: https://www.acialliance.org/page/covid-19updates
