Grant Opportunities
Telepsychiatry is a proven medium for increasing psychiatric capacity at single facilities and across entire systems, and has been found to be as effective as in-person care. Through telepsychiatry, organizations can access psychiatric coverage without the recruiting, logistical and financial burdens that the onsite provision of those services would require.
These programs are important and essential to have, especially in rural communities with a shortage of providers. Telepsychiatry is allowing more people than ever to access behavioral health care.
Establishing a telepsychiatry program is lengthy and costly. Several grant programs are available for organizations that need assistance funding their expanding mental health services. These grants that can be used to establish your telepsychiatry program, fund equipment or to help support your program.
The Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC) Funding Opportunities
The Bureau of Primary Health Care offers a variety of grant and cooperative agreement funding, including competitive, expansion, and non-competing continuation opportunities. The extensive list includes the Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 Integrated Behavioral Health Services (IBHS). IBHS award recipient “will increase access to high quality integrated behavioral health services, including prevention or treatment of mental health conditions and/or substance use disorders, including opioid use disorder.”
(USDA) The Distance Learning and Telemedicine Program (DLT)
The USDA’s Distance Learning & Telemedicine Grants provide two opportunities: Traditional and Opioid. The traditional DLT program helps rural communities use the unique capabilities of telecommunications to connect to each other and to the world. The opioid DLT program is “to help address the opioid epidemic in rural America.”
The Office for the Advancement of Telehealth (OAT)
The Office for the Advancement of Telehealth (OAT) provides funds to promote and improve telehealth services in rural areas. 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. Active programs include Telehealth Network Grant Program (TNGP), Substance Abuse Treatment Telehealth Network Grant Program (SAT TNGP), Telehealth Resource Center Program (TRC).
Telemedicine.com Grant Opportunities
Several state-specific nationwide grant opportunities are listed via Telemedicine.com, including Blue Shield of California Foundation, Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation Grants (West Virginia and Pennsylvania, New Mexico Primary Care Capital Fund, The Hearst Foundation.
Other grant opportunities include:
National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)