The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has notified Palmetto Care Connections (PCC) that PCC’s broadband consortium members will receive more than $17 million in broadband subsidies for the period of 2019 through 2022. These funds represent actual savings for health care providers.

February is School-based Health Care Awareness Month. Palmetto Care Connections will spotlight a different school-based telehealth program in South Carolina every week in this month.

The Center for Connected Health Policy's Executive Director, Mei Kwong, provides an update telehealth policy changes.

H.R. 6792, S. 3998: The Improving Telehealth for Underserved Communities Act of 2020 allows RHCs and FQHCs to use normal coding and billing for telehealth services (payment parity between telehealth and in-person services) for the duration of the public health emergency while raising the limits on payment for independent rural health clinics who have long been paid below cost due to the RHC Medicare "cap."

H.R. 7663: The Protecting Access to Post COVID-19 Telehealth Act of 2020 permanently expands distant site provisions for RHCs and FQHCs and allows payment for telehealth services to be paid via our normal in-person rates as if the services were provided without the use of a telecommunications device.

H.R. 7187: The HEALTH Act of 2020 permanently expands distant site provisions for RHCs and FQHCs and explicitly requires telehealth reimbursement for safety-net providers be made through normal safey-net reimbursement mechanisms. Rural Health Clinics would receive their All-Inclusive Rate (AIR) payment while Federally Qualified Health Centers would receive their normal Prospective Payment System (PPS) rate.

The 8th Annual Telehealth Summit of SC recordings and presentations are available to the public on the Palmetto Care Connections' website. To view the recordings, click here.