View Rule

In an effort to help ensure that healthcare providers have the resources they need to promote telehealth solutions, the Commission adopted an Order on March 13, 2020, to fully fund all eligible Rural Health Care Program services for Funding Year 2019 with an additional $42.19 million in funding.

In the August 2019 Rural Health Care Reform Order , the Commission simplified the method of determining support in the Rural Health Care Telecommunications Program, targeted funding to rural areas in the most need of health care services funding by prioritizing support based on rurality and whether the area is medically underserved when demand exceeds available funding, increasing the effectiveness of competitive bidding, and streamlining program administration.  

On May 20, 2019, the Commission adopted an order to fully fund all eligible services request for the Funding Year 2018 by waiving the rule allowing multi-year commitments and directing USAC to fund all multi-year requests as requests for a single year. 

On December 18, 2017, the Commission released an NPRM and Order launching a review of the RHC Program to ensure that all communities have access to advanced telehealth services and adopts measures to address the impact of the funding cap on FY 2017 RHC Program participants.  Specifically, the NPRM seeks comment on: increasing the RHC Program’s $400 million annual cap and creating a prioritization mechanism in the event of demand exceeding the cap; establishing a process for evaluating outlier funding requests and reforming the calculation of urban and rural rates in the Telecommunications Program to improve fairness and transparency; redefining the cost-effectiveness standard across the RHC Program to encourage price-sensitive purchasing and fair competitive bidding; ensuring sufficient funding for rural and Tribal healthcare providers, while maintaining the participation of rural-urban provider consortia; and simplifying program participation and enhancing oversight. The Order waives the RHC Program’s cap on a one-time basis and instructs USAC to carry forward any unused RHC Program funds from prior funding years for use in FY 2017 and enable service providers to voluntarily reduce their rates for FY 2017 requests while keeping constant the support amount provided by the Universal Service Fund.

On December 12, 2013, the Commission established the Healthcare Connect Fund, which will fund 65 percent of the cost of broadband services or facilities used for health care purposes by eligible public and not-for-profit health care providers. The Healthcare Connect Fund also permits HCPs to receive support for constructing and owning broadband infrastructure. Support will be available for existing pilot projects starting July 1, 2013. Starting January 1, 2014, support will be available for new consortia and individual HCP participants. On July 9, 2012, the Commission released an order maintaining support on a limited, interim, fiscally responsible basis for specific rural Health Care Pilot Program (Pilot Program) participants that have exhausted their funding this year or will exhaust such funding during funding year 2012. On February 27, 2012, the Wireline Competition Bureau released a Public Notice seeking comment on whether to fund Rural Health Care Pilot Program (Pilot Program) participants who will exhaust funding allocated to them before or during funding year 2012 (July 1, 2012, to June 30, 2013). The Commission has established a Pilot Program under the Universal Service Fund rural health care mechanism, which will fund up to 85 percent of the cost of building statewide and regional broadband networks connecting not-for-profit and public health care providers, and connecting these networks to Internet 2 or National Lambda Rail, as well as to the public Internet. In November 2007, the Commission selected 69 entities (now 50 due to mergers and withdrawals) to participate in the Pilot Program. In February 2010, the Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau extended by 1 year, to June 30, 2011, the deadline for participants to select a vendor and request funding commitments under the Pilot Program. In May 2011, the Wireline Competition Bureau extended by 1 year, to June 30, 2012, the deadline for participants to select a vendor and request funding commitments under the Pilot Program. The Bureau also extended by 1 year the invoice deadline for Pilot Program participants. On July 15, 2010, the Commission released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking comment on reforms to the Universal Service health care support mechanism consistent with the recommendations set forth in the National Broadband Plan to expand the reach and use of broadband connectivity for and by public and nonprofit health care providers. On July 9, 2012, the Wireline Competition Bureau issued a Public Notice seeking additional comment on these issues.

In February 2022, the Commission released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking comment on rate determinations in the Rural Health Care Telecommunications Program, proposing to reform the Commission’s funding cap rules to more efficiently and effectively handle the internal cap on multi-year commitments and upfront payments in the Rural Health Care Healthcare Connect Fund Program, and proposing to simplify invoicing by harmonizing the process between the Telecom Program and the Healthcare Connect Fund Program.