FCC urged not to limit COVID-19 telehealth program to certain providers

AHA today urged the Federal Communications Commission to reconsider immediately its decision to limit participation in the COVID-19 Telehealth Program to certain nonprofit or public health care providers, noting that the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act included “no such restriction” on the program’s $200 million in funding.

Eligibility “should be extended all types of hospitals and other direct patient care facilities regardless of their size, location or for-profit or not-for-profit status, including but not limited to rural and urban short-term acute-care, long-term acute care, critical access hospitals and skilled nursing facilities,” AHA wrote, noting that COVID-19 “does not discriminate” on the basis of income or geography. “Simply put, anyone can be exposed to COVID-19, and the entire healthcare system — from the largest hospitals to individual caregivers — is engaged in the fight against this virus.”