Eligibility

Support will be a 50% discount of the monthly service charges for Advanced Telecommunications and Information Services necessary for the provision of health care services to victims of Hurricane Katrina. Plain old telephone service (POTS) and low bandwidth services, are not eligible.

Eligible Health Care Providers

• Applicants can be in urban or rural Affected Areas (see below).
• Applicants must be public or non-profit health care providers of the types listed below.

1. Post-secondary educational institutions offering health care instruction, teaching hospitals or medical schools;
2. Community health centers or health centers providing health care to migrants;
3. Local health departments or agencies including dedicated emergency departments of rural for-profit hospitals;
4. Community mental health centers;
5. Not-for-profit hospitals;
6. Health clinics including mobile clinics (which need not periodically change location);
7. Consortia of health care providers consisting of one or more of the above entities;
8. Part-time eligible entities located in otherwise ineligible facilities.
9. Red Cross or Temporary Shelters providing community medical or mental health services.

• Private or for-profit health care providers are not eligible.
• Health care providers outside the Affected Areas may be deemed eligible by seeking a waiver from the FCC. This waiver will require a ten (10) percent increase in patient load directly attributed to Hurricane Katrina.

Relief under this provision is available for services provided August 29, 2005 through June 30, 2006.

Areas Eligible for Support

Potential applicants in areas not listed above that serve a substantial number of evacuees compared to their usual patient load (at least 10% more), may file an eligibility “waiver” request with the Federal Communications Commission.