Bipartisan Support Expected for $100M FCC Connected Care Pilot
A $100 million Connected Care telehealth pilot is expected to get the go-ahead with bipartisan support Wednesday when FCC commissioners vote at their Wednesday meeting, said agency officials. It also received broad support from patient advocates and telehealth interests, as announced Monday by Commissioner Brendan Carr, who's spearheading the pilot. A draft NPRM released last month asks for stakeholder feedback on how to structure the plan to provide broadband support to homes in a pilot that would test the efficacy of telehealth services and remote patient monitoring (see 1906190013).
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The School, Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition supports the test, said Executive Director John Windhausen, saying remote care can help address rural hospital closings. He's pleased with the suggestion in the draft NPRM that funding not be limited to providers already designated as eligible telecom carriers because other types of broadband providers could support the pilot. He likes that the draft is "technology neutral," so the pilot will let the FCC analyze whether fiber works better than wireless in some applications: "Wireless is cheaper to operate, but it doesn't have as much bandwidth as fiber." Many patient monitoring technologies are relatively low bandwidth, he said.
ACT|The App Association will "push very hard" for an 85 percent reimbursement of a full suite of digital services beyond broadband access to the home, said Morgan Reed, executive director. He thinks the FCC should also fund digital support services such as video conferencing, cloud services and back-end solutions. He hopes the FCC will work closely with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on reimbursement for clinical services from healthcare providers.
The beta version could help low-income and people of color manage chronic conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure, which are exacerbated by an inability to access or afford healthy foods, said Marcella Gadson, Multicultural Media and Telecom Council director-communications and research. She said millions of Americans still aren't connected to broadband, and hopes this program complements Lifeline.
"All Americans should have access to quality care regardless of their ZIP code," said Olivia Boyce, director-strategy at InSight Telepsychiatry and co-chair of an American Telemedicine Association working group. She suggested veterans, rural Americans, tribal communities and adolescents could be served with tele-mental health and telepsychiatry.