FCC Announces Close of Filing Window for COVID-19 Telehealth Program

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau will no longer accept new applications for funding from the COVID-19 Telehealth Program. Based on the applications received to date, demand for funding exceeds available Program funds and, as a result, the public interest is not served by imposing burdens on health care providers who may prepare new
applications that cannot be funded under the current appropriation. 

The Bureau began accepting applications for the Program on April 13, 2020. Since then, the Bureau has continued to expeditiously review applications and issue funding commitments and, in accordance with the FCC’s Report and Order, has prioritized funding applications that target areas that have been hardest hit by COVID-19 and where the support will have the most impact on addressing the health care needs. As of June 24, 2020, the Bureau has issued $157.64 million in total Program funding commitments for 444 applications. The Bureau anticipates that funding requests in applications already received will exhaust the remaining Program appropriation and continuing to consider applications would impose unnecessary burdens on health care providers who may be preparing applications that will not be considered before the Program funds are exhausted. Therefore, it is not in the public interest to accept new Program applications.