Volume XIII, Issue XXXV - April 2020

From: Danielle L. Kirby, Director
Division of Substance Use Prevention and Recovery

Two Telehealth Opportunities

Originally hosted on April 6th, SAMHSA is offering the Understanding the New SAMHSA/OCR Guidance for Telehealth SUD and MH Services webinar again, this Friday, April 17th at 3:00PM EST. This webinar will review new OCR and SAMHSA COVID-19 Guidance about federal patient privacy regulations while providing SUD and MH telehealth services.

Webinar Objectives:

  • Describe how the privacy laws apply to telehealth
  • Describe OCR and SAMHSA Guidance related to privacy issued in response to the need to rapidly expand telehealth services due to the COVID-19 pandemic
  • Facilitate provider sharing to explore practical ideas and innovative approaches to protect patient privacy while providing SUD/Mental Health telehealth services

SUD and MH treatment providers, administrators, state agency leaders, and others involved in the transitioning to providing care to patients/clients remotely should attend.

Registration will be capped at 500 participants.

If you are unable to attend on this date, you may access the archived recording of the original webinar on CoE-PHI website at http://coephi.org/.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Deputy under Secretary for Rural Development Bette Brand announced that USDA is opening a second application window for funding under the Distance Learning and Telemedicine (DLT) grant program (https://www.rd.usda.gov/programs-services/distance-learning-telemedicine-grants).

Electronic applications for window two may be submitted through grants.gov beginning April 14, 2020 and are due no later than July 13, 2020. Paper applications will NOT be accepted under the second window. Applicants eligible for DLT grants include most state and local governmental entities, federally recognized tribes, nonprofits, and for-profit businesses. Additional information on how to apply will be available on grants.gov.

Rural Development was provided an additional $25 million in the CARES Act for the DLT grant program. USDA will make a separate announcement in the coming weeks when these funds are available.

USDA Rural Development provides loans and grants to help expand economic opportunities and create jobs in rural areas. This assistance supports infrastructure improvements, business development, housing, community facilities such as schools, public safety in health care and high-speed internet access in rural areas. For more information, visit www.rd.usda.gov.

Please see the attached COVID-19 Federal Rural Resource Guide for additional information.