Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

Urgent: Apply before the window closes May 6.

With the pandemic expected to stretch into next year, telehealth will continue to be the modus operandi for many providers to care for patients virtually. Whether you need to boost your current technology or set up telehealth for the first time at your practice, one federal program is reopening with available funding to help — but the filing window is short and funds will go fast.

Background: In April 2020, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) began the COVID-19 Telehealth Program with $200 million in CARES Act funding. The program originally addressed the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) and aimed to assist health care providers struggling to care for patients during a pandemic (see Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement, Vol. 46, No. 8).

“The Program provided eligible health care providers with 100 percent of the costs, up to $1 million per applicant, of the telecommunications, information services and connected devices (i.e., remote monitoring devices, such as pulse-ox, BP monitoring device, but only if they were connected) necessary to provide remote telehealth services,” explain attorneys Michael T. Batt and Emily S. Beukema with law firm Hall Render in online legal analysis.

Round 1 of the program was extremely popular, but on June 25 the FCC stopped taking applications due to lack of funding. “The Commission fully obligated the $200 million by issuing awards for 539 applications from April 16, 2020 through July 8, 2020,” according to an FCC Report and Order on the program.

Relief Funds Reinvigorate the FCC’s Telehealth Program

In December 2020, the feds breathed new life into the dormant program with fresh funds from the COVID-19 relief package. Congress added another $250 million to the telehealth initiative through the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, building on the original CARES Act allocation (see Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement, Vol. 47, No. 3).

Additionally, the legislation asked for the public’s input on prior and future application “metrics” and how the CARES Act funding was awarded. The Act also mandated the following, according to the Report and Order:

• A more equitable system for distribution of future funding by state;
• Round 1 application amendments and updates; and
• A better application system for updating application denials and a 10-day timetable for submitting “supple­mentary data.”

Now: On April 15, the FCC announced it would commence Round 2 at 12 pm EST on April 29. But time is of the essence as the second round of the COVID-19 Telehealth Program filing period is only seven days, and the window closes on May 6 at noon, an FCC notice says. This “application filing window” was created “to provide a level playing field to all applicants, regardless of size or resource level,” the Report and Order says.

“For over a year, health care providers have fought on the front lines of this pandemic and have had to rapidly innovate to support the health and well-being of all Americans. Telehealth has been at the forefront of this effort and I’m pleased to announce that additional support is just around the corner,” said Jessica Rosenworcel, acting FCC chairwoman in a notice. “The FCC is dedicated to moving quickly to review and approve applications for this funding to support health care providers and patients across the country.”

Check Out the Metrics

The FCC Round 2 application and providers’ eligibility requirements are on par with the Round 1 stipulations. Applications will still be accepted from “only nonprofit and public eligible health care providers that fall within the categories of health care providers in section 254(h)(7)(B) of the 1996 [Communication] Act,” the Report and Order conveys.

Important: “Despite industry requests to expand eligibility to receive the funds in Round 2 of the Program, the Commission declined to allow for-profit entities to apply,” say attorneys Rachel Irving Pitts and Angela Y. Kung with law firm Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. in online legal analysis.

Round 1 applicants can apply for Round 2 funds; however, there will be a $1 million cap in Round 2 per applicant. Plus, all Round 2 filers without FCC Form 460 approval will need to submit FCC Form 460, guidance suggests.

“Notably, the FCC decided to modify the process for applicants requesting funding for multiple eligible health care provider sites by only requiring the lead health care provider listed on the application to obtain an approved eligibility determination (through an FCC Form 460),” Batt and Beukema observe.

This new requirement is to “safeguard” the COVID-19 Telehealth Program and ensure recipients of the funding align with the Commission’s eligibility requirements, the Report and Order maintains.