Summary of the order

The FCC’s Hurricane Katrina USF Order allows rural and non-rural public and non-profit health care providers in the Affected Areas and in areas where Hurricane Katrina evacuees have relocated to apply for temporary support for Advanced Telecommunications and Information Services used for telemedicine applications.

Audit Information

To safeguard the USF from potential program violations, all beneficiaries and service providers receiving these monies are subject to potential audit and those that receive more than $1 million will automatically be audited by the Administrator to ensure the funds are used for their intended purposes. All eligible telecommunications carriers, service providers, or beneficiaries requesting support under these temporary rules shall be subject to audit or investigation by the FCC’s Office of Inspector General (“OIG”), or other authorized federal or state governmental agency and, upon request, must make available any documentation and records necessary to verify compliance with these rules.