FCC Announces Second Set of Connected Care Pilot Program Projects

A second set of projects selected for the Connected Care Pilot Program were announced by the Federal Communications Commission on June 17. The Connected Care Pilot Program was established to provide up to $100 million in Universal Service Funds to help eligible health care providers defray the costs of providing connected care services to their patients. As with the initial projects chosen in January 2021, this second set of selections represents several different geographic areas and provider types, will involve patients in underserved communities, and will address a range of health conditions. The Commission designed the Pilot Program with a particular emphasis on providing connected care services to low-income and veteran patients, and these projects would all target one or both of these populations. As such, these projects will advance the goals of the Pilot Program by helping the Commission to determine how universal service support provided to health care providers for the costs associated with providing connected care services can enable them to improve health outcomes through connected care, reduce health care costs for patients, facilities and thehealth care system, and support the trend towards connected care everywhere.

The Commission made the following selections of 32 applicants for the Connected Care Pilot Program:

• ADV West - Frank R. Howard Memorial Hospital, Willets, CA
• Albany Medical Center, Albany, NY
• Blessing Health System
• Boone Memorial Health Services, Danville, WV
• Bridgeport Hospital, Bridgeport, CT; Lawrence + Memorial Hospital, New London, CT; Greenwich Hospital, Greenwich, CT; Yale New Haven Hospital, New Haven, CT
• Catholic Health Initiatives, consortium with 36 sites in Arkansas, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Nebraska
• Central Peninsula Hospital, Soldotna, AK
• Children’s National Medical Center, Washington, DC
• Coastal Health Alliance, dba Bolinas Family Practice, Bolinas, CA
• Community Health Center of Lubbock, Lubbock, TX
• Dubuque Community Mental Health Center, Dubuque, IA
• Grace Health, Battle Creek, MI
• Heartland Health Centers Consortium, consortium with sites in Chicago and Skokie, IL
• Heritage Behavioral Health Center, Decatur, IL
• Heritage Clinic, consortium with sites in Los Angeles, Long Beach, Pasadena, and Lancaster, CA
• Housing Works Health Services III, Inc. on behalf of EngageWell IPA C-19, consortium with 32 sites in New York City, NY
• Hudson Headwaters Health Network, consortium with sites in 13 communities in upstate New York
• IHS-CAL Round Valley Indian Health Center, Covelo, CA
• Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
• Kennedy Krieger Children’s Hospital, Baltimore, MD
• Mobile Medical Care, Inc., Silver Spring, MD
• Primary Care Providers for a Healthy Feliciana, Inc. - RKM Dental Clinic, Clinton, LA
• Sheppard Pratt, Towson, MD
• Summa Health, Akron, OH
• The Counseling Center of Wayne and Holmes County, Wooster OH
• The Mental Health Center of Greater Manchester, consortium with six sites in Manchester, NH
• The MetroHealth System, Cleveland, OH
• University of Florida - Department of Pediatrics, Gainesville, FL
• University of Hawaii, JABSOM: Department of Family Medicine and Community Health Hawaii/Pacific Basin Area Health Education Center, Honolulu, HI
• University of Kentucky Healthcare, Lexington, KY
• Upstate Consortium, consortium with 18 sites in the Syracuse, NY Region
• Wooster Community Hospital, Wooster, OH