FCC Commissioner Carr Remarks to 31st Annual Rural Health Policy Institute

One theme I keep hearing at the National Rural Health Association's 2020 summit is “rural America is having a moment; let’s make it a movement.” And there’s certainly a new movement in telehealth that we should tap into.  Given the significant cost savings and improved patient outcomes associated with connected care, we should align public policy in support of this movement in telehealth. At the Federal Communications Commission, we can play a constructive role by helping to support the connectivity and deployments needed to ensure that all communities get a fair shot at benefiting from new telehealth technologies.

So in 2019, I proposed that the FCC establish a new $100 million “Connected Care Pilot Program.” We have been working with our sister agencies such as the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Veterans Affairs, as well as stakeholders in the health care community to develop an effective connected care program. And we have been moving through the rulemaking process at the FCC. I am pleased to report that we will soon move to a final order in that proceeding in the FCC, so I welcome NRHA continued involvement in that process. If adopted, this new program would target support to connected care deployments that would benefit low-income patients, including those eligible for Medicaid or veterans receiving cost-free medical care. It would support a limited number of projects over a three-year period with controls in place to measure and verify the benefits, costs, and savings associated with connected care. It could take the results we’ve already seen in the handful of programs I’ve mentioned here and help replicate those results in communities across the country.