Part 1: Services, Payment and Partners: Questions from the Audience

A physical address must be listed but a PO Box can be used for the mailing address. Additional verification might be needed to confirm the one phone per family requirement. Please email this question to lifelinesupport@usac.org. They do not offer dial-in application troubleshooting. 

There is no support for installation costs or devices. It would be necessary to qualify for the program, then look at offerings of specific carriers in the area to determine the cost of installation or devices, as well as any additional costs above the $9.25 discount. Some states have state program with additional support, which would be reflected in offerings in that state. Contact Lifeline at 800-234-9473 or email lifelinesupport@usac.org for questions. 

Please contact HRSA’s Telehealth Technology Resource Center and ask if they have any material that can help. They cannot provide funding, but might have suggestions regarding this issue. 

• Standards vary from state to state, but many states interpreted Registered Nurse (RN) scope of practice to include tele-nursing and telephone triage prior to the coronavirus pandemic. The RNs within the PHMC network of Health Centers use tele-triaging for our patients in order to manage urgent situations and aid the patients in accessing the correct level of care for their individual situations. There are many resources available, but the American Academy of Ambulatory Nursing has a particularly comprehensive online toolkit, the “Telehealth Nursing Practice Special Interest Group: A Telehealth Manager’s Toolkit”. 
• You can also register for the National Consortium of Telehealth Resource Centers’ Webinar - Novice to Expert: A Guide to Comprehensive Patient Assessment Using Telehealth in the Home, scheduled for August 20, 2020 at 11:00 AM PT.
  
• From a Medicaid perspective, the provider should contact the State Medicaid Agency in their state for specifics about telehealth in the state.
  

The Mobilizing and Empowering the Nation and Technology to Address Loneliness & Social Isolation (MENTAL) Health Innovation Challenge.

Please visit the Rural Health Research Gateway for HRSA-funded research on telehealth research or the National Consortium of Telehealth Resource Centers’ Evidence for Telehealth page. While material concerning the telehealth in Covid-19 response is just emerging, searching the internet or the National Library of Medicine shows some early publications. 

For patients who are deaf or have difficulty hearing, the PHMC Health Center network utilizes the Deaf-Hearing Communication Centre. The agents can be added to a Telehealth call to provide live ASL interpretation, and DHCC also provides CART (or Real-time captioning) which uses qualified transcribers with specialized equipment who print a word for word version of spoken language on a laptop computer, TV monitor or overhead screen. 

Depending on the situation, we may assess if there is a home health aide, caregiver, or family member in the home that can support the patient. If the patient is someone who would benefit most from an in-person visit, we would see this person in the office, with safety planning measures in place, including but not limited to, scheduling the appointment during hours when the clinic has less traffic, ensuring that patient wears a mask to appointment, if they are able, and practicing proper infection control and hygiene protocols, and encouraging the patient to also do so. Our offices never closed for in-person visits during the height of the pandemic, however, we limited in-person visits to those that were necessary and the need could not otherwise be satisfied by telehealth.