Members of Congress Urge Greater Transparency on FCC’s COVID-19 Telehealth Program

Reps Anna G. Eshoo (D-CA) and Don Young (R-AK), along with Sens Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), wrote to the Federal Communications Commission about its COVID-19 Telehealth Program. The lawmakers raised concerns about the FCC’s lack of transparency related to the program and asked several questions about its implementation. They asked FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to answer the following questions no later than July 30:

1. How many applications did the FCC receive for COVID-19 Telehealth Program?
2. How many applications did the FCC receive that were not awarded support? Please provide the scoring metrics for all applicants, including those that did not receive support. If no scoring metrics are available, please explain the mechanism by which the FCC evaluated applications to ensure consistency and fairness.
3. Of those applications that did not receive support, how many were determined to be ineligible? Please provide the criteria against which applications were deemed ineligible.
4. In total, how much COVID-19 Telehealth Program support did applicants request?
5. How much support, in total, has the COVID-19 Telehealth Program disbursed to applicants thus far?
6. After a health care provider’s application has been granted, how long, on average, does it take for the FCC to disburse funds to the applicant? When does the FCC expect to disburse all $200 million from the COVID-19 Telehealth Program?
7. What steps did the FCC take to ensure health care providers were aware of the COVID-19 Telehealth program?
8. How did the FCC inform providers that serve rural and Native American communities about the COVID-19 Telehealth Program?
9. What federal, state, or local agencies did the FCC proactively engage to spread awareness of the program among health care providers?
10. How has the FCC increased its capacity to oversee the COVID-19 Telehealth Program to ensure against waste, fraud and abuse?
11. How does the FCC intend to track, oversee, and evaluate the impact of the disbursed funds?