The Office for the Advancement of Telehealth (OAT) promotes the use of telehealth technologies for health care delivery, education, and health information services.
Telehealth is especially critical in rural and other remote areas that lack sufficient health care services, including specialty care.
The range and use of telehealth services have expanded over the past decades, along with the role of technology in improving and coordinating care. Traditional models of telehealth involve care delivered to a patient at an originating (or spoke) site from a specialist working at a distant (or hub) site. A telehealth network consists of a series of originating sites receiving services from a collaborating distant site.
Telehealth is defined as the use of electronic information and telecommunication technologies to support long-distance clinical health care, patient and professional health-related education, public health, and health administration. Technologies include video conferencing, the internet, store-and-forward imaging, streaming media, and terrestrial and wireless communications.
Visit Telehealth.HHS.gov to learn more about the latest federal efforts to support and promote telehealth services. Health care providers can find everything they need to know about telehealth, including policy and reimbursement updates, "how to" information, and implementation resources. Patients can get tips and information about the types of services they can receive via telehealth and what to expect from a virtual visit.
OAT provides funds to promote and improve telehealth services in rural areas, including:
Active Programs
Telehealth Network Grant Program (TNGP)
The purpose of this program is to demonstrate the use of telehealth networks to improve healthcare services for medically underserved populations in urban, rural, and frontier communities. More specifically, the networks can be used to:
- Expand access to, coordinate, and improve the quality of health care services;
- Improve and expand the training of health care providers; and/or
- Expand and improve the quality of health information available to health care providers, patients, and their families.
The current TNGP promotes the utilization of rural Tele-emergency services by enhancing telehealth networks to deliver 24-hour Emergency Department (ED) consultation services via telehealth to rural providers without emergency care specialists.
Contact: Carlos Mena, 301-443-3198
Evidence-Based Tele-Behavioral Health Network Program (EB THNP)
The purpose of this program is to use telehealth networks to:
- Increase access to behavioral health care services in rural and frontier communities and
- Conduct evaluations of those efforts to establish an evidence-base for assessing the effectiveness of tele-behavioral health care for patients, providers, and payers.
Contact: Whitney Wiggins, 301-443-4966
Telehealth Resource Center Program (TRC)
National Telehealth Resource Center Program (NTRC)
The purpose of the NTRCs is to support delivery of telehealth technical assistance by RTRC recipients. Two NTRCs, focused on policy and technology, respectively, will:
- Provide training and support,
- Disseminate information and research findings
- Support effective collaboration, and
- Foster the use of telehealth technologies to increase access, timeliness, cost effectiveness or quality of health care service delivery in rural and medically underserved areas and populations
NTRCs will share expertise through individual consultations, training, webinars, conference presentations, and a significant web presence.
Regional Telehealth Resource Center Program (RTRC)
The purpose of the RTRCs is to provide expert and customized telehealth technical assistance across the country. Twelve RTRCs are located regionally to facilitate grant activities at the local level and to ensure that resources are geographically distributed. The RTRCs will:
- Provide training and support,
- Disseminate information and research findings,
- Promote effective collaboration, and
- Foster the use of telehealth technologies to provide health care information and education for health care providers who serve rural and medically underserved areas and populations.
RTRCs will share expertise through individual consultations, training, webinars, conference presentations, and a significant web presence.
Contact: Natassja Manzanero, 301-443-2077
Telehealth Centers of Excellence (COE)
The purpose of this program is to examine the efficacy of telehealth services in rural and urban areas. The Telehealth Centers of Excellence are located in a public academic medical center that:
- Has a successful telehealth program with a high annual volume of telehealth visits;
- Is financially self-sustaining; and
- Has established programs that provide telehealth services in medically underserved areas with high chronic disease prevalence and high poverty rates.
Contact: Colleen Morris, 301-594-4296
Flex Rural Veterans Health Access Program (RVHAP)
The purpose of this program is to provide funding to enhance mental health services, including:
- Crisis intervention and diagnostic assessments,
- To detect post-traumatic stress disorder,
- Traumatic brain injury, and
- Other injuries associated with veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.
RVHAP focuses on methods that utilize regional approaches, networks, health information technology, telehealth, or telemedicine to deliver services to individuals in rural areas.
Contact: Monica Cowan, 301-443-0076
Licensure Portability Grant Program (LPGP)
The primary purpose of the program is to provide support for state professional licensing boards to carry out programs under which licensing boards of various states cooperate to develop and implement state laws and related policies that will reduce statutory and regulatory barriers to telemedicine.
Contact: Monica Cowan, 301-443-0076
Telehealth Focused Rural Health Research Center Cooperative Agreement
The Telehealth Focused Rural Health Research Center (TF RHRC) Program consists of two separate centers: one evaluation-focused and one evidence-focused.
The purpose of the evaluation-focused TF RHRC is to conduct and maintain a thorough and comprehensive evaluation of nationwide telehealth investments in rural areas and populations. This comprehensive evaluation will explore the impact of telehealth investments on rural areas and populations, to include an assessment of access, cost, experience, and effectiveness for patients and providers. By evaluating the impact of investments in rural telehealth services, the evaluation-focused TF RHRC will directly inform improvements in health care access and population health for rural America.
The purpose of the evidence-focused TF RHRC is to conduct clinically informed and policy-relevant health services research to expand the evidence base for rural telehealth services. By contributing to the evidence base for rural telehealth services, this evidence-focused TF RHRC will directly inform improvements in health care access and population health for rural America.
Contact:Siobhan Dempsey, 301-443-6124
Substance Abuse Treatment Telehealth Network Grant Program (SAT TNGP)
The purpose of this program is to demonstrate how telehealth programs and networks can improve access to health care services, particularly substance abuse treatment services, in rural, frontier, and underserved communities. Telehealth networks are used to:
- Expand access to, coordinate, and improve the quality of health care services;
- Improve and expand the training of health care providers; and/or
- Expand and improve the quality of health information available to health care providers, patients, and their families for decision-making.
Contact: Whitney Wiggins, 301-443-4966
