Program objective

Telehealth has assumed a critical role in health care delivery as technology and improved broadband connectivity have enabled patients to access health care services without needing to visit a health care provider’s physical location. Advances in telehealth are transforming health care from a service delivered through traditional brick and mortar health care facilities to connected care options delivered via a broadband Internet access connection directly to the patient’s home or mobile location. Despite the numerous benefits of connected care services, patients who cannot afford or who otherwise lack reliable, robust broadband Internet access connectivity, including many low-income Americans and veterans, are not realizing the benefits of these innovative telehealth technologies. The costs necessary to provide connected care services may also limit some health care providers’ ability to treat patients, particularly low-income Americans and veterans, with connected care services. To address this, the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) established the Connected Care Pilot Program (Pilot Program) within the Universal Service Fund (USF or Fund) to provide funding up to $100 million over three years and to examine how the Fund can help support the trend towards connected care services, particularly for low-income Americans and veterans. The Pilot Program was set up to help defray eligible health care providers’ costs of providing connected care services, with a particular emphasis on supporting these services for eligible low-income Americans and veterans. The Commission expects that the Pilot Program will benefit many low-income and veteran patients who are responding to a wide variety of health challenges such as public health epidemics, opioid dependency, mental health conditions, high-risk pregnancy, and chronic conditions such as diabetes, cancer, kidney disease, and heart disease. The Commission also expects that the Pilot Program will provide meaningful data that will help better understand how USF funds can support health care provider and patient use of connected care services, and how supporting health care provider and patient use of connected care services can improve health outcomes and reduce health care costs.