ChristianaCare is receiving a $714,000 grant from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to expand its COVID-19 telemedicine program.
ChristianaCare is currently only one of 17 health care providers across the country and the first health system in the First State to receive a grant under the FCC’s COVID-19 Telehealth Program.
“The program will expand our existing telehealth capabilities by increasing a broadband access to telehealth services for vulnerable and underserved residents in Delaware, by providing devices, in-home access to telediagnostic services, as well as data plans,” said Sharon Anderson, the chief virtual health officer at ChristianaCare.
She says the program will also offer on-site telehealth services to communities with high disease burden and challenges accessing virtual health services,
“We think that this access to broadband telehealth services will enable COVID-19 patients to safely remain at home in isolation instead of presenting to hospitals and facilities for further care and evaluation,” said Anderson.
Anderson notes that before COVID-19, ChristianaCare was already working to transform its approach based on the premise that care that can be done in the home, in the community or on a smartphone will be done in the home, in the community or on a smartphone. She expects that to continue even after the pandemic subsides.
Access to the broadband telehealth services enables COVID-19 patients to remain safely at home in isolation instead of showing up at a First State hospital for evaluation and eventual care.
