The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has received funds for another telehealth program in less than a year. An agency statement indicates that the program “would immediately support health care providers” working to thwart the COVID-19 outbreak. This would be achieved in part by supporting purchases of devices and other items needed to provide telehealth, which the Connected Health Initiative said will help drive an overdue overhaul of health care in the U.S.

BEIJING – After its masks and test kits were said to be sent back by Western countries due to complaints over poor quality, China this week required only NMPA-approved companies export their products and stepped up regulations to ensure quality.

With the COVID-19 pandemic overwhelming hospitals and treatment centers, San Jose, Calif.-based Outset Medical Inc. scored a big win with U.S. FDA clearance of its Tablo hemodialysis system for home dialysis use. The company will begin rolling the system out for home patients in the coming months, balancing that program with demand for onsite devices to support an upswell in COVID-driven dialysis treatments.

PERTH, Australia – The British Standards Institute (BSI) granted Sydney-based Oncosil Medical Ltd. European CE marking approval for its brachytherapy device to treat locally advanced pancreatic cancer in combination with chemotherapy, clearing the way for marketing in both the EU and the U.K. BSI also granted the Oncosil device breakthrough therapy designation.

Charleston, S.C.-based startup ABM Respiratory Care has received U.S. FDA clearance for its first product, an airway clearance system known as Biwaze Cough. The portable device helps to remove secretions for people who are unable to cough or clear away secretions effectively on their own due to injury or disease.