HHS Awards $586,159 to Support
Telehealth Providers in Illinois During the COVID-19 Pandemic
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[September 21, 2020]
Today, the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Health Resources and
Services Administration (HRSA) awarded $586,159 to seven
organizations in Illinois to increase telehealth capabilities in
response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Nationally, $15 million was awarded to 159
organizations across five health workforce programs. These awards
demonstrate the Trump Administration’s continued efforts and
commitment to building a national telehealth infrastructure.
These awards are funded through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and
Economic Security (CARES) Act that President Trump signed into law
on Friday, March 27, 2020. HRSA made awards to organizations based
on their capacity to implement COVID-19 telehealth activities that
train high demand professions across the health care team.
“This new funding from Congress will enable more heroic health
professionals on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic to use
telehealth for a broad range of care,” said HHS Secretary Alex Azar.
“President Trump has created historic opportunities to deliver care
safely and effectively via telehealth during the pandemic, including
through everyday tools like FaceTime and Skype, and we are committed
to helping providers and patients, especially in vulnerable
communities, maximize all of these new telehealth options.”
These investments will train students, physicians, nurses, physician
assistants, allied health and other high-demand professionals in
telehealth. This will enable these professionals to maximize
telehealth for COVID-19 referrals for screening and testing, case
management, outpatient care, and other essential care during the
crisis.
Additionally, through increased telehealth capabilities from this
funding, organizations will be able to maintain primary care
services when clinics and medical facilities are not available,
especially for COVID-19 positive, quarantined, elderly and other
vulnerable populations.
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“Telehealth is a vital tool for our providers in
delivering critical treatment to populations most seriously impacted
by this pandemic,” said HRSA Administrator Tom Engels. “As we look
to build and prepare the future workforce, telehealth has opened up
new possibilities to educate and clinically train health providers
to connect with patients, when and where they need services.”
HRSA’s Bureau of Health Workforce (BHW) oversees the workforce
programs that received awards today. Organizations from Illinois
received funding from one or more of the following five BHW
programs:
Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program
Area Health Education Centers Program
Centers of Excellence Program
Nurse Education, Practice, Quality and Retention – Veteran Nurses in
Primary Care Training Program
Nurse Education, Practice, Quality and Retention – Registered Nurses
in Primary Care Training Program
View the complete list of today’s award recipients:
https://bhw.hrsa.gov/
grants/covid-19-workforce-telehealth-fy2020-awards
For more information about COVID-19, visit
www.coronavirus.gov.
For more information on HRSA’s COVID-19 efforts, visit
www.hrsa.gov/coronavirus.
For more information about telehealth, visit
www.telehealth.hhs.gov.
[Department of Health & Human
Services] |