Comments Sought on Rural Health Care Pilot Program Extension

On November 2, 2009, the Wireline Competition Bureau issued a public notice seeking comment on a filing by the North Carolina TeleHealth Network (NCTN) requesting an extension of the June 30, 2010 deadline for funding commitment requests under the universal service Rural Health Care Pilot Program (Pilot Program). Extension requests similar to the one filed by NCTN have been filed by the Oregon Health Network (OHN), the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC), Arkansas Telehealth Network (ATN), the New England Telehealth Consortium (NETC), Western New York Rural Area Health Education Center (R-AHEC), Michigan Public Health Institute (MPHI), and Health Information Exchange of Montana (HIEM). NCTN's filing will be treated as a request for a one year extension for all participants in the Pilot Program. The extension requests filed by OHN, ANTHC, ATN, NETC, R-AHEC, MPHI and HIEM will be treated as ex parte comments in the open proceeding initiated by the NCTN filing. Any similar filings will also be treated as ex parte comments on the pending extension request proceeding.