COVID-19 Telehealth Program

The COVID-19 Telehealth Program provides funding to eligible health care providers responding to the COVID-19 pandemic to support the telecommunications services, information services, and connected devices needed to provide critical connected care. The program – established in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act – provided $200 million in funding to help health care providers provide telehealth and connected care services to patients at their homes or mobile locations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

2021: Second Round of Funding

The Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) provided an additional $249.95 million to fund a second round of the COVID-19 Telehealth Program. Congress directed the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to seek comment on how to commit the new funding.

On March 30, the FCC released a Report and Order setting forth details about the  second round of the COVID-19 Telehealth Program. In February, the FCC found it was in the public interest to use the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) to administer the program’s second round.

On April 15, the FCC released a Public Notice announcing that the application window for the second round of COVID-19 Telehealth funding will open on April 29. Interested applicants can participate in a series of trainings before the application window to prepare.

Program rules prohibit duplicative funding for the same service for the same sites from more than one FCC program. This includes the RHC programs (HCF and Telecom), the COVID-19 Telehealth Program, and the Connected Care Pilot Program.

The second application window for the COVID-19 Telehealth Program closed on May 6.

August 26 – The FCC released a Public Notice announcing the first set of awardees for the second round of funding.

September 29 – The FCC released a Public Notice announcing the second set of awardees for the second round of funding.

October 21 – The FCC released a Public Notice announcing the third set of funding awardees for the second round of funding.

November 9 – The FCC released a Public Notice announcing the fourth set of funding awardees for the second round of funding.

December 21 – The FCC released a Public Notice announcing the fifth set of funding awardees for the second round of funding.

January 26 – The FCC released a Public Notice announcing the sixth set of funding awardees for the second round of funding.

Link to Application Portal

The application funding window for the second round of COVID-19 Telehealth Program funding has closed.

The link below will take you to the COVID-19 Telehealth Program’s online Application form.

This emergency funding program is designed to provide funding to non-profit or public entities that fall within the categories of health care providers under section 254(h)(7)(B) of the 1996 Telecommunications Act.

With limited exceptions, for-profit entities are not eligible for funding.

COVID-19 Telehealth Application Portal

2020: First Round of Funding

The FCC stopped accepting applications for the initial round of COVID-19 Telehealth Program funding on June 25, 2020. The initial round of funding provided support to more than 500 health care facilities.

More information about the initial round of the COVID-19 Telehealth Program is available at: https://www.fcc.gov/covid-19-telehealth-program.

Stay Informed

To receive outreach about the COVID-19 Telehealth Program, including information on the application process and invitations to trainings,  please sign up for the COVID-19 Telehealth email list.

Program Support

For program support, email USAC at Round2TelehealthApplicationSupport@usac.org.