Christianna Barnhart, Attorney Advisor for the FCC’s Wireless Competition Bureau provided updates on the FCC’s Healthcare Connect Fund at HRSA’s “Telehealth for Safety Net Providers” webinar held September 20, 2013.
The Healthcare Connect Fund to modernize the FCC’s Rural Health Care Program will be put in place to provide high-capacity broadband connectivity to eligible Health Care Providers (HCP). HCPs are eligible as part of a consortium but also individual HCPs also may apply for funds. Non-rural HCPs may participate in the Fund if they belong to a consortium that has a majority of rural HCPs.
Under the program, eligible rural HCPs and non-rural HCPs if a member of a consortium with more than 50 percent rural HCP sites, will then be able to receive a 65 percent discount on all eligible expenses.
Taking part in a consortium enables HCPs to share medical, administrative, and technical expertise. It also makes it possible for rural HCPs to consult with medical specialists at larger HCPs via telemedicine and exchange data using EHRs.
In order for HCPs operating as either a public or a not-for-profit to receive the discount, they must belong to a hospital, rural health clinic, community health center, health centers serving migrants, community mental health center, local health department or agency, teaching hospitals, medical schools, or belong to a consortia.
The webinar highlighted several success stories of organizations effectively using telemedicine technology:
- At the Bacon County Hospital in Georgia, a young woman’s life was saved because local physicians were able to use their telemedicine connection to a specialist in Savannah and as a result were able to administer the clot-busting drug TPA
- The Heartland Unified Broadband Network (HUBNet) serving Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming by using telemedicine enabled a rural critical access hospital to provide $24,456 in services locally that would otherwise have been provided elsewhere. By implementing e-ICU services, HUBNet was able to lower the average number of days that patients were spending in the ICU
- The North Country Telemedicine Project in New York State is predicting that by using telemedicine their patient hospital revenue will increase by $4.1 million due to increased retention of patients across five specialties
- The Adirondack Champlain Telemedicine Information Network in New York State now anticipates $9 million in future operating cost savings as a direct result of providing telecardiology, teletrauma, telemental health, teleneurology, and telerespiratory services
- The Palmetto State Providers Network serving South Carolina saw their emergency department psychiatry treatment costs drop from $2,500 to $400 per patient per day as a result of their telepsychiatry program and realized $18 million in Medicaid savings
On July 1, 2013, funding became available for existing pilot projects but pilot projects may continue to obtain funding for HCP sites as they exhaust pilot funds. In the case of new individual and consortium applicants, funding will become available January 1, 2014.
The Universal Service Administrative Company administers the Healthcare Connect Fund. For forms and other materials to apply, go to www.usac.org/rhc. For additional information, email Christianna.barnhart@fcc.gov.