LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Nearly six dozen health care providers in both urban and rural areas of the country, including three Southland clinics, were awarded funding today by the Federal Communications Commission to provide telehealth services during the coronavirus pandemic.
A total of 70 providers nationwide were awarded $31.63 million in the latest round of funding disbursements. To date, the FCC's COVID-19 Telehealth Program, which was authorized by the federal CARES Act, has approved 514 funding applications in 46 states plus Washington, D.C. for a total of $189.3 million in funding.
The local health care providers that were approved for funding are:
-- TCC Family Health, in Long Beach, was awarded $920,019 for desktop and laptop computers, tablets and a remote monitoring platform and equipment that will allow expansion of its telehealth program to offer video visits for patients who may be symptomatic but not having serious symptoms for COVID-19 and, with remote monitoring, to continue caring for the most vulnerable patients with chronic conditions.
-- Harbor Community Clinic, in San Pedro, was awarded $103,169 for a patient telehealth platform, internet service and network upgrades, laptop computers and remote monitoring equipment to continue monitoring patients with diabetes and hypertension without having to expose them to the clinic environment. The funding will also enable its health care providers to perform remote telehealth services for all non-essential/urgent patient care and some primary care services.
-- Pacific Clinics, in Santa Fe Springs, received $41,553 for videoconferencing equipment and telehealth software to expand access to telehealth psychiatric care and to continue to provide behavioral health services remotely to more than 22,000 low-income or homeless individuals who suffer from serious or persistent mental illness.
Last week, four other Southland clinics were collectively awarded nearly $726,000 in funding to provide telehealth services during the pandemic. To learn more about the FCC's COVID-19 Telehealth Program and view a complete list of funding recipients to date, visit https://www.fcc.gov/covid19telehealth.