As we continue our important work directly related to COVID-19, the Federal Communications Commission will also continue our work confronting the longer-term challenges that have been highlighted by pandemic. In particular, at our upcoming meeting on April 23, we will be voting on major initiatives to expand wireless connectivity and further close the digital divide.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will pay for a wider range of telemedicine services during the coronavirus pandemic including remote patient monitoring for both chronic and acute conditions, not just related to coronavirus treatment, and allowing doctors to collect Medicare payments for making phone calls to patients. CMS previously required that consultations have both audio and visual elements. Some medical groups had pushed the agency to remove that requirement, arguing that some sessions can easily be conducted over the phone.
Twenty-eight senators wrote a letter to the Federal Communications Commission demanding that it consider how repealing net neutrality could negatively impact public safety, universal access, and broadband competition. In October 2019, the US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld the Trump FCC’s repeal of the Open Internet Order as lawful but also ruled that the FCC failed to adequately consider public safety, the Lifeline program for low-income consumers, and competitive broadband providers’ access to poles needed to deploy their networks.
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