42 U.S.C. § 254c–14 — Telehealth network and telehealth resource centers grant programs

(a) Definitions. "Director" and "Office" mean the Director and the Office for the Advancement of Telehealth described in (c). "Federally qualified health center" and "rural health clinic" mean what those terms mean in section 1395x(aa). "Frontier community" has the meaning given in regulations issued under subsection (r) of this section. "Medically underserved area" has the meaning given to "medically underserved community" in section 295p(6). "Medically underserved population" has the meaning given in section 254b(b)(3). "Telehealth services" means services delivered through telehealth technologies. "Telehealth technologies" means electronic information and telecommunications technology used to support and promote health care, patient and provider education, health administration, and public health at a distance. (b) The Secretary must set up, under section 241, a telehealth network grant program and a telehealth resource centers grant program. (c) Administration. (1) HRSA gets a new Office for the Advancement of Telehealth, led by a Director. (2) The Director runs these two grant programs, working with state offices of rural health, state primary care offices, or other appropriate state agencies. (d) Grants. (1) Telehealth network grants: the Director may fund eligible entities for evidence-based projects that use telehealth technology, through telehealth networks, in rural areas, frontier communities, and medically underserved areas, and for medically underserved populations — to expand, coordinate, and improve access to and the quality of health care, and to expand and improve the health information available to providers, patients, and families. (2) Telehealth resource centers grants: the Director may fund eligible entities for projects supporting telehealth initiatives in those same areas, communities, and populations. (e) The Director may award grants under this section for up to 5 years. (f) Eligible entities. (1) To get a network grant under (d)(1), an entity must show it will deliver services through a telehealth network. (2) Entities in the network can be nonprofit or for-profit. (3) The network must include at least 2 of the following, and at least one must be a community-based health care provider: community or migrant health centers or other federally qualified health centers; private-practice health care providers, including pharmacists; clinics, including rural health clinics; local health departments; nonprofit hospitals, including community access hospitals; other publicly funded health or social service agencies; long-term care providers; home health care providers; outpatient mental health and substance use disorder providers and facilities; local or regional emergency care providers; institutions of higher education; dental clinics; and providers of prenatal, labor, birthing, and postpartum care, including hospitals with obstetric units. (g) Applications. To get a grant under (d), an applicant — working with the state office of rural health or another appropriate state entity — must submit an application including: a description of the project; how it will meet the health care needs of the population served and improve their access to and quality of care; evidence of local support and how the community will be involved; a plan to sustain the project after federal funding ends; the source and amount of non-federal funds being contributed; evidence of the project's long-term viability and the applicant's institutional commitment; for network projects, how the project will help integrate telehealth into providers' operations, avoid duplication, and improve access and quality; and any other information the Secretary wants. (h) Preferences. (1) For network grants, the Secretary favors applicants that meet at least one of: being a rural or other community-based organization; planning to use the funds to build networks providing mental health care, public health services, long-term care, home care, preventive care, case management, or prenatal, labor, birthing, or postpartum care; showing how the project will coordinate with other federally funded projects serving the same population; including in the network an entity that provides clinical or educational health services and that is a public library, a college or university, or a local government entity; or proposing a project that boosts local and regional connectivity. (2) For resource center grants, the Secretary favors applicants that meet at least one of: a record of successfully providing telehealth to rural areas, underserved areas, or underserved populations; a demonstrated record of collaborating and sharing expertise with other telehealth providers at any level of government; or a record of offering a broad range of telehealth services, such as clinical specialties, patient and family education, provider education, and rural residency support. (i) Distribution of funds. (1) The Director must, as much as possible, spread these grants equitably across the country's geographic regions. (2) For network grants in a given year, at least 50% of the money must fund projects in rural areas. (j) Use of funds. (1) Network grant recipients may use the money for salaries, equipment, and operating costs, including: developing and delivering clinical telehealth services in rural, frontier, or underserved areas or for underserved populations; developing or buying equipment for the network; developing and providing distance education, or mentoring, precepting, or supervising providers and students, to improve access to care in those same areas and populations; developing or buying instructional programming; transmitting medical data, maintaining equipment, and paying (including travel costs for) specialists and referring providers delivering telehealth through the network, if no third party will pay for those services; developing projects that use telehealth to help providers work together; collecting and analyzing usage data to show cost-effectiveness; and other activities the Secretary approves as consistent with the section's goals. (2) Resource center grant recipients may use the money for salaries, equipment, and operating costs for: technical assistance, training, support, and travel for providers and organizations delivering or planning to deliver telehealth; sharing information and research about telehealth; promoting cooperation among resource centers and the Office; evaluating the best ways to use telehealth technology; integrating clinical information systems with telehealth technology; promoting consumer health education through telehealth; and carrying out special projects or studies directed by the Office. (k) Prohibited uses. Grant money under this section can't be used to: buy real property; buy or lease equipment beyond 20% of the total grant; for network projects, buy or install transmission equipment; pay for equipment or transmission costs unrelated to the grant's purpose; buy or install general-purpose voice telephone systems; pay for construction; or pay indirect costs beyond 15% of the total grant. (l) Collaboration. Where possible, a grantee must work with other organizations — public or private, and receiving federal or state assistance, or running centers or programs that receive such assistance — that provide telehealth services or related activities. (m) The Secretary must coordinate these grant programs, as much as practical, with similar federal and state agency and nonprofit programs, to make the best use of public money. (n) The Secretary must set up outreach procedures in every state to tell potential telehealth users in rural areas, frontier communities, and underserved areas and populations about these grant programs. (o) It is the sense of Congress that states should make reciprocity agreements. Under such an agreement, a licensed provider in one state who consults, via telehealth, with a licensed provider in another state would be exempt — for that consultation — from any law in the second state that would otherwise ban the consultation just because the first provider isn't licensed in that second state. (p) No later than 4 years after March 27, 2020, and every 5 years after that, the Secretary must report to the Senate HELP Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee on this section's grant activities and outcomes. (q) Congress authorized $29,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 through 2025 to carry out this section.