FCC To Launch $100M Telehealth Pilot Program: ‘The Health Care Equivalent Of Moving From Blockbuster To Netflix’
The three-year program, dubbed the Connected Care Pilot, would support a limited number of projects, focusing on pilots that help providers "defray" the broadband costs of bringing telemedicine to low-income Americans and veterans.
Modern Healthcare:
FCC Moves Forward With $100 Million Connected Care Proposal
The Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday unanimously voted to move forward with plans for a $100 million pilot program to promote telemedicine services. The FCC voted to adopt a notice of proposed rulemaking for a program dubbed the Connected Care Pilot. "The future of healthcare is connected care, and this is the future that I want the FCC to support," agency Chairman Ajit Pai said at an open meeting Wednesday. "The $100 million budget we propose for the Connected Care Pilot program is a smart investment for us and for the country." (Cohen, 7/10)
Modern Healthcare:
HHS Launches Summit To Overhaul Federal Quality Programs
HHS on Tuesday created a summit that will enlist federal and private healthcare leaders to determine how to streamline and improve the agency's quality programs. The group, which will be called the Quality Summit, is in response to a recent executive order from President Donald Trump calling on federal health agencies to develop a strategy within six months that will align quality measures across Medicare, Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program, the health insurance marketplace, the Military Health System and the Veterans Affairs health system. (Castellucci, 7/9)
In other news on the administration —
Stat:
Supreme Court Ruling May Make It Harder To Get Info From The FDA
Anyone seeking certain information about a medicine from the Food and Drug Administration may have a harder time getting what they want, thanks to a recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that expanded the ability of federal agencies to withhold confidential data from the public. At issue is an exemption in the Freedom of Information Act that permits the government to withhold trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from someone who considers the material to be confidential. As a result, the FDA regularly redacts portions of documents that pertain to, say, approval applications or review procedures. (Sherman, 7/9)
