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Background
The Rural Health Care program supports health
care providers serving rural communities by funding
telecommunications services necessary for the provision of health
care. Congress mandated in 1996 that the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) use the Universal Service Fund (USF) to provide
support to telephone companies that serve eligible rural health
care providers. Congress also directed the FCC to enhance access
to advanced telecommunications and information services for these
health care providers. Here are some frequently asked questions
about the Rural Health Care program.
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What Benefits Are Available Under
the Rural Health Care Program?
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Public and non-profit health care
providers in rural areas can receive discounts on
installation and monthly charges for telecommunications
and Internet access service used for the provision of
health care by using one of two methods: a mileage-based
calculation, or a calculation of the “urban rate” to
receive support equal to the difference between what
they pay and what they would pay if they were receiving
the service in any city in their state with a population
of 50,000 or more.
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Rural health care providers are
using discounts from this program to provide patient
services such as transmitting x-rays from remote to
urban areas to be read by medical specialists.
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How Does the Rural Health Care Program
Work?
The rural health care provider must submit a
form requesting services to the Universal Service Administrative
Company (USAC). Once the form is approved, it is posted on USAC’s
Web site seeking bids from telecommunications companies interested
in providing the requested services.
After the rural health care provider selects
a provider from qualified bidders and USAC has approved the
funding request, the services may begin. Support from the USF is
then used to help pay for eligible services provided to the rural
health care provider.
Who Pays for the Rural Health Care Program?
All telecommunications service providers and
certain other providers of telecommunications must contribute to
the federal USF based on a percentage of their interstate and
international end-user telecommunications revenues. These
companies include wireline phone companies, wireless phone
companies, paging service companies, and certain Voice over
Internet Protocol (VoIP) providers.
Some consumers may notice a “Universal
Service” line item on their telephone bills. This line item
appears when a company chooses to recover its USF contributions
directly from its customers by billing them this charge. The FCC
does not require this charge to be passed on to customers. Each
company makes a business decision about whether and how to assess
charges to recover its Universal Service costs. These charges
usually appear as a percentage of the consumer’s phone bill.
Companies that choose to collect Universal Service fees from their
customers cannot collect an amount that exceeds their contribution
to the USF. They also cannot collect any fees from a Lifeline
program participant (an income-eligible subscriber that receives
discounts on telephone service).
What Entities Are Eligible?
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post-secondary educational institutions
offering health care instruction, including teaching hospitals
and medical schools;
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community health centers or health centers
providing health care to migrants;
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local health departments or agencies;
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community mental health centers;
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not-for-profit hospitals;
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dedicated emergency departments in rural
for-profit hospitals;
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rural health care clinics;
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part-time eligible entities located in
facilities that are ineligible; and
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groups of health care providers consisting
of one or more entities described above.
Can I Find Out How Rural Health Care
Providers in My Area Are Benefiting from the Rural Health Care
Program?
Yes. You can visit USAC’s Web site to
determine Rural Health Care funding specific to your state. Go to
www.rhc.universalservice.org and follow the prompts to
“Funding Commitments.”
What Is the FCC Doing?
In September 2006, the FCC initiated a Pilot
Program to help support the creation of a nationwide broadband
network dedicated to health care, connecting public and private
non-profit health care providers in rural and urban locations.
In November 2007, the Commission selected 69
participants for the Pilot Program, representing 42 states and 3
U.S. territories. These participants are eligible for funding to
support up to 85 percent of costs associated with deploying
dedicated broadband networks connecting health care providers in
rural and urban areas within a state or region, and with the
advanced telecommunications and information services provided over
those networks. In addition, participants will be eligible for
funding to support up to 85 percent of the costs of connecting to
Internet2 or National LambdaRail, dedicated nationwide backbone
networks, as well as the public Internet. Total funding for the 69
selected participants is approximately $417 million over three
years (or $139 million per year). Participation in the Pilot
Program is limited to the 69 participants selected in November
2007.
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Federal Communications Commission
