Tester Announces Nearly $1 Million for Bighorn Valley Health Center to Provide Remote Health Care

Funding will be used to improve remote patient health care services

U.S. Senator Jon Tester today announced $930,000 in new Federal Communications Commission (FCC) pandemic relief funding for Bighorn Valley Health Center, Inc. to purchase remote patient monitoring equipment, mobile devices, cellular data plans, and monitoring platform services to provide remote care and monitoring to patients.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that telehealth services are more essential than ever for folks in rural Montana who often need to drive hours to access basic health care,” said Tester. “I’m proud to have secured these resources for Bighorn Valley Health Center, which will be a game changer for our state’s underserved communities that need it the most, and I will continue to aggressively hold the FCC accountable to ensure that Montana is never left behind.”

The funding for Bighorn Valley Health Center, Inc. comes in the second round of the FCC’s COVID-19 Telehealth Program Awards, which was established as a part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

Tester has long fought to expand access to telehealth in Montana. He secured funding for Montana telehealth programs in the CARES Act, and successfully fought for those provisions expanding access to telehealth to be made permanent. Tester also called for audio-only telehealth reimbursements to level the playing field for seniors and others without reliable broadband access during the coronavirus outbreak, and successfully secured $2.15 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs to bolster its telehealth capabilities through increased telework and call center capabilities in the CARES Act.