Search Results for fcc

FCC reforming Rural Health Care Program to improve telehealth funding in addition to Connected Care Pilot (US)

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted last week to adopt a 151 page “report and order” which will reform how the agency distributes money for rural telehealth support and broadband services through the Rural Health Care Program. Rural telehealth has been one of the FCC’s most popular programs with demand exceeding funding. The new policy will, according to the order: Reduce fraud, waste, and abuse (FWA) Streamline and simplify the calculation behind the discounted communication rates that healthcare providers pay Move to create a database of rates (transparency) Simplify the application process In the likely event that demand for the... Continue Reading

News roundup: docs dim on AI without purpose, ‘medtail’ a mall trend, CVS goes SDH, Kvedar to ATA, Biden ‘moonshot’ shorts out, and Short Takes

...state and local governments. Shortly after the formal announcement, Mr. Biden the Candidate announced a rural health plan to expand a federal grant program to include rural telehealth for mental health and specialized services. Politico But isn’t that already underway with the FCC’s Connected Care Pilot Program, coming to a vote soon? [TTA 20 June] And…Short Takes Philips Healthcare bought Boston-based patient engagement/management start-up Medumo. Terms not disclosed. CNBC London’s Medopad launched with Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust (RWT) in a three-year RPM deal. DigitalHealthNews Parks Associates’ Connected Health Summit will be again in San Diego 27-29 August with an outstanding... Continue Reading

FCC’s $100M Connected Care Pilot Program for rural areas up for July vote

Finally, a big boost for rural telehealth comes to the ‘yea or nay’ stage. The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Connected Care Pilot Program, which was approved to proceed last August [TTA 9 Aug 18] with comments on the creation of the program, now moves to the next stage with a formal FCC vote on 10 July on the program itself. The FCC vote was announced by FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, the co-proposer of the program with Mississippi’s Senator Roger Wicker, during a visit on Tuesday to a rural health clinic in Laurel Fork, Virginia. The three-year program increases support for... Continue Reading

Suddenly hot, redux: mental health telemedicine in long term care, analytics to help predict rehospitalizations in skilled nursing facilities

...of Wi-Fi in those areas, which is needed at 500 kbs of bandwidth to work. This expansion fits with CMS’ extension of covered telemedicine in rural areas and FCC’s continuing Connected Care Pilot Program, San Antonio-based Deer Oaks is estimated to have over $18 million in revenue (CrunchBase) and sees their growth in this area, according to an interview in mHealth Intelligence. Assessing developing conditions in a SNF or LTC patient and preventing readmissions will always get this Editor’s attention, as she started in the field with behavioral telemonitoring for this area. Real Time Medical Systems raised at end of... Continue Reading

Connected Health Conference highlights (so far): FCC’s $100 million telehealth pilot, NIH’s ‘All of Us’, MIT’s social robots integrating AI

Expanding FCC connected health programs. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai in his keynote reinforced the agency’s interest and support of connected health initiatives, from rural to opioids. Most of the programs have a rural focus to bring broadband and telehealth/RPM to the ‘end of the line’ in underserved communities, something close to Mr. Pai’s heart as his parents were both rural physicians in Kansas.. This summer, the Connected Care Pilot Program was proposed and approved unanimously in August [TTA 9 Aug]. Funding for this is proposed at $100 million. The spending cap for the rural healthcare program, which has been around... Continue Reading

Withings returns to international markets with Steel HR Sport and a new Go

...to look at–well designed and more watch-like than smartwatchy–and surprisingly priced at $200. But on the budget side, reports indicate that Withings is reviving the Withings Go, famous for its eInk face. According to Wareable, they found a listing with the FCC for a successor model number to the previous Go (WAM03) containing information about a fresh design and new sensors for this basic fitness tracker. No price or release date is listed, but the 2016 model was about $70 retail. Withings’ HQ has returned to Paris and is selling in the US, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Asia, and New Zealand.... Continue Reading

More good news for telehealth, RPM in FCC approval of $100M Connected Care Pilot Program

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) moved relatively quickly to approve the Connected Care Pilot Program, approving broadband-enabled telehealth and remote patient monitoring services in underserved rural and remote areas. Funding for the program has been pegged at $100 million. The approval was unanimous on the program proposed by FCC commissioner Brendan Carr and Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker. CCPP will provide $100 million for subsidies to hospitals or wireless providers running post-discharge remote monitoring programs for low-income and rural Americans. An example is those run by the University of Mississippi Medical Center. The goal is to lower same-cause readmissions and improve... Continue Reading

Rounding up July: Teladoc’s new name and earnings, Hitching a Lyft, GlobalMed with FCC, Proteus and HIV sensing, Parks Associates, Welbeing

...the MD Anderson Cancer Clinic to schedule on-demand transportation, reducing direct transportation costs by 30 percent with the service and no-show rate down to four percent. Mobihealthnews GlobalMed, a previous Perspectives contributor, was represented by its CEO on a four-person panel discussing the FCC ‘s proposed Connected Care Pilot Program, a new $100 million program to support telehealth for low-income Americans, attended by FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr. Here’s a video from the 24 July meeting. Hat tip to Marcia Rhodes of Amendola Communications Proteus Digital Health’s sensor-equipped pills, transmitter patch, and app may have a new market with prophylaxis (PrEP)... Continue Reading

News roundup: FCC RPM/telehealth push, NHS EHR coding breach, unstructured data in geriatric diagnosis, Cerner-Lumeris, NHS funds social care, hospital RFID uses

[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Lasso.jpg” thumb_width=”125″ /]FCC backs post-discharge RPM plan. The “Connected Care Pilot Program” proposed by FCC commissioner Brendan Carr would provide $100 million for subsidies to hospitals or wireless providers running post-discharge remote monitoring programs for low-income and rural Americans such as those run by the University of Mississippi Medical Center. The goal is to lower readmissions and improve patient outcomes. The proposal still needs to be formalized so it would be 2019 at earliest. POLITICO Morning eHealth, Clarion-Ledger, Mobihealthnews NHS Digital’s 150,000 patient data breach originated in a coding error in the SystmOne EHR used by GPs. Through the... Continue Reading

FCC’s actions on Rural Health Care and Connect2Health for cancer–relief from ‘net neut’ neurosis

Hot Air Relief Here. There’s been much of it expended on the so-called ‘net neutrality’ issue which can be summarized as follows: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is getting out of treating internet service providers (ISPs) like broadcast carriers, returning ISP speed/access enforcement to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as it was in 2015. Developments around 5G data and faster ISP speeds made the FCC’s involvement resemble a relic of the 1960s ‘vast wasteland’ FCC which imposed ‘equal time’ and content restrictions on broadcasters which were in effect through the 1980s and even into the 1990s. It’s taken our attention... Continue Reading