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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 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 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?
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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.
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After the rural health care provider
selects a provider from qualified bidders and USAC has
approved funding service from the provider, the services may
begin.
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Support from the Universal Service Fund (USF)
is then used to help pay for services provided to the rural
health care provider.
Who Pays for the Rural Health Care Program?
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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 interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
providers.
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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.
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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Community mental health centers;
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Not-for-profit hospitals;
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Dedicated emergency departments in
for-profit hospitals;
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Rural health care clinics; and
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Consortia 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 the Web site of the
Universal Service Administrative Company 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?
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In September 2006, the FCC initiated a
pilot funding program to facilitate 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.
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On November 16, 2007, the Commission
selected 69 Participants for the Pilot Program, representing
42 states and 3 U.S. territories.
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These Participants will be 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). Visit our Rural Health Care pilot
program Web site at www.fcc.gov/cgb/rural/rhcp.html
to learn more about the Pilot Program.
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The Pilot Program is limited to
Participants that were selected in the Rural Health Care
Pilot Program Selection Order.
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