Rural Health Care

When it comes to broadband, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is about more than money. For example, Congress also directed the Federal Communications Commission to consider the impact of the law's $65 billion broadband investment on the FCC's existing broadband support programs under the umbrella of the Universal Service Fund (known to wonks as the USF).

In June 2018, the Federal Communications Commission adopted rules to address increasing demand in the Rural Health Care (RHC) Program. Specifically, the FCC: (1) increased the annual RHC Program funding cap; (2) provided for the annual RHC Program funding cap to be adjusted for inflation; and (3) established a process to carry-forward unused funds from past funding years for use in future funding years. The FCC also directed its Wireline Competition Bureau to announce a specific amount of unused funds from prior funding years to be carried forward to increase available funding for future fu

Fund size and administrative cost projections for the third quarter of calendar year 2022 (3Q2022). USAC projects a consolidated budget of $61.60 million for 3Q2022.

For the first time in its history, the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) expanded beyond administering the four universal service programs: E-Rate, High Cost (Connect America Fund), Lifeline, and Rural Health Care. In 2021, USAC rose to the challenge and successfully administered four Federal Communications Commission initiatives, collectively known as the Congressional Response Programs.

The Federal Communications Commission’s Enforcement Bureau achieved a settlement with Windstream Communications to resolve its investigation into the company’s practices for determining rural rates and retention of Rural Health Care Program (RHC) documents. To resolve this matter, Windstream will pay a settlement amount of $1,204,445.24, which includes a $200,000 civil penalty, and implement enhanced compliance measures in connection with its participation in the RHC Program.

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau announces the E-Rate and Rural Health Care (RHC) programs’ funding caps for funding year 2022. The new caps represent a 4.2% inflation-adjusted increase in each program cap from funding year 2021. The E-Rate program funding cap for funding year 2022 is $4,456,460,992. The new cap represents a 4.2% inflation-adjusted increase in the $4,276,833,965 cap from funding year 2021.

Recent years have seen an explosion in demand for telehealth services, a trend accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, that has increased the bandwidth needs of rural health care providers. The Federal Communications Commission is proposing changes to its Rural Health Care Program rules that are designed to ensure that rural healthcare providers receive the funding necessary to access broadband and telecommunications services to provide vital healthcare services.

The Federal Communications Commission adopted a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking comment on further reforms to the Rural Health Care (RHC) Program rules to promote program efficiency and ensure that rural healthcare providers receive appropriate levels of funding. Specifically, the FCC is seeking comment on several facets of the RHC Program including:

INCOMPAS is pressing the Federal Communications Commission to make the smart, transparent and expedient choice to save the Universal Service Fund. By evolving USF to include contributions from broadband internet access service providers, which the FCC could do immediately without an act of Congress, INCOMPAS says low-income families, schools and rural hospitals would all benefit from this renewed commitment to ongoing affordability solutions. INCOMPAS warns that the USF program is spiraling toward disaster, with contribution levels set to rise to nearly 40%.

In response to the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the Federal Communications Commission established universal service mechanisms to help ensure that all Americans have access to affordable telecommunications service. Congress mandated that these programs be supported by contributions from every telecommunications carrier that provides interstate telecommunications, and other providers of telecommunications services if the FCC finds contributions from such providers to be in the public interest.