Mount Sinai Health System Receives FCC Grant for Telehealth Medicine to Care for Seniors at Risk of COVID-19
Federal Communications Commission Provides $312,500 Grant
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has awarded $312,500 to the Mount Sinai Health System to support telehealth services during the COVID-19 pandemic. The grant was one of six announced this week and the only one made to a New York City-based hospital system.
Mount Sinai will use the grant to support the Mount Sinai Visiting Doctors program, which was founded in 1995 to provide quality, compassionate health care to frail, elderly, or ailing adults who are unable to leave their homes. Considered a national model and a flagship clinical initiative, Mount Sinai Visiting Doctors is one of the largest academic home-based primary care programs in the nation. Its Director is Linda DeCherrie, MD.
“This grant recognizes the extraordinary work and innovation of our Mount Sinai Visiting Doctors program and Dr. DeCherrie’s leadership. During this pandemic, the safest place for frail, seriously ill older adults is their home. The technology supported by this grant will ensure that more older adults receive the care that they need and deserve while dramatically lowering their risk of contracting COVID-19,” says R. Sean Morrison, MD, the Ellen and Howard C. Katz Professor and Chair of the Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at Mount Sinai.
“Mount Sinai is fortunate to have outstanding clinicians in the fields of geriatrics and palliative care, and this funding from the FCC will allow us to put their clinical expertise and our advanced technology in the hands of our most vulnerable patients,” says Bruce Darrow, MD, PhD, Senior Vice President, Information Technology, and Deputy Chief Information Officer of the Mount Sinai Health System.
The funding is part of the recently enacted CARES Act, which appropriated $200 million to the FCC to support health care providers using telehealth during this national emergency.
About the Mount Sinai Health System
Mount Sinai Health System is one of the nation’s leading integrated academic health systems and one of the largest in the New York metropolitan area. Its comprehensive system includes seven hospitals, more than 400 outpatient practices, over 600 research and clinical laboratories, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and the Mount Sinai Phillips School of Nursing. Together, the Health System comprises approximately 48,000 employees, more than 9,000 physicians, and 8,600 nurses.
As a leading learning health system, Mount Sinai combines clinical expertise with scientific discovery to improve patient care while training the next generation of health care and biomedical leaders. The Health System provides care across every stage of life, from prenatal care through geriatrics, while advancing personalized medicine through artificial intelligence, data science, and biomedical research.
Mount Sinai is consistently recognized among the nation’s leading academic health systems for patient care, research, and education. The Mount Sinai Hospital is ranked No. 1 in New York by Newsweek and No. 5 on the magazine’s World’s Best Hospitals list. The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai ranks No. 11 among U.S. medical schools and No. 1 among freestanding medical schools for National Institutes of Health funding, reflecting the strength of its scientific enterprise and leadership in biomedical research.