BlogsHealth systems

How 2021 FCC Funds Can Accelerate Your Network’s Telehealth Strategy

How 2021 FCC Funds Can Accelerate Your Network’s Telehealth Strategy

Telehealth adoption has surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a record one in three American adults attending at least one telehealth appointment during the pandemic’s first six months.

How is this big experiment in healthcare innovation working?

Even amid unusually challenging circumstances, 60% of providers report that integrating telehealth services has improved patient health, 55% say that it has boosted their job satisfaction, and 80% say they’ve been able to provide care in a more timely manner, according to a recently released Mayo Clinic survey.

That’s not to say that this shift has come without challenges – particularly for historically underserved and under-resourced communities, where longstanding disparities in healthcare access have extended to telehealth.

But there’s good news: Buoyed by $250 million in new funding, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is slated to expand its successful COVID-19 Telehealth Program, which provides reimbursements for telecommunications services, information services, and connected devices to support health systems in providing telehealth services.

Here’s why that’s such a big deal – and how the program has already unlocked remarkable results by helping community health systems implement TytoCare.

Making Telehealth Work for Everyone

Last year, Congress allocated $200 million in funding to the FCC’s COVID-19 Telehealth Program as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. In its first round, the program provided funds to more than 500 health systems across the country, allowing numerous health systems to implement affordable and quickly scalable telehealth programs.

Partnering with TytoCare, recipients utilized FCC funds to achieve a range of telehealth milestones, including:

The launch of 20 remote clinics in one week so hundreds of students and teachers in Pike County, Kentucky, could attend school without risk of infection in doctors’ offices or medical centers

Convenient and accessible home care for hundreds of high-risk patients in South Dakota, keeping them safe from COVID-19 amid extreme health threats

Empowering Health Partners of Western Ohio to provide school-based exams and testing across 71 locations in the Toledo region

Partnering with North Carolina’s Novant Health to deliver system hospitals remote exam capabilities for underserved and Medicaid patients

Enabling more than 700 patients in Springfield, Missouri to safely connect with a provider in seconds and inform clinical diagnosis

Supporting high-risk patients in Louisiana and Mississippi with a telemedicine program for urgent and primary care, resulting in a tenfold increase in telehealth visits

Obtain Your FCC Telehealth Funds with TytoCare

Thanks to the COVID-19 Telehealth Program, thousands of patients and providers have enjoyed access to TytoCare – the healthcare industry’s first all-in-one modular device and examination platform for AI-powered, on-demand, remote medical exams. Equipped with TytoCare, your providers can examine a patient’s heart, lungs, throat, ears, skin, abdomen, heart rate, and body temperature, and diagnose and treat an array of common conditions, from cold and flu to ear infections and skin rashes – anywhere, anytime.

Is your organization eligible for FCC reimbursement funding with TytoCare? Schedule a meeting here to speak directly with our team.