Rural Health Care
About Rural Health Care:
- Overview of the Program
- Overview of the Process
- Monthly Conference Calls
- Site Visits
- Understanding Audits
- Filing Appeals
- Rural Health Care Pilot Program
Rural Health Care Tools:
Filing Appeals
Instructions for appealing Rural Health Care decisions regarding support disbursements and recovery of payments.
USAC recognizes that some health care providers will disagree with its decisions regarding Rural Health Care support. As is the case with any administrative decision made by USAC, affected parties to decisions made by USAC on billing, collection, or disbursement matters can seek an appeal of those decisions from the appropriate USAC division, in this case the Rural Health Care Division, or directly with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The procedures for filing an appeal with USAC or the FCC are outlined below.
Any appeal must be filed within 60 days of the issuance of the decision from USAC and must be postmarked within 60 days of that date. Pursuant to FCC rules, failure to meet this requirement will result in automatic dismissal of the appeal. See Sections 54.719 to 54.725 of the FCC's rules for the details associated with filing an appeal.
There are two appeal options:
- A. Write a Letter of Appeal to The Rural Health Care Division (RHCD) explaining why you disagree with RHCD's decision and what outcome you request, OR;
- B. Write an appeal directly to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) - skipping Option A - explaining why you disagree with the RHCD's decision. While you may write directly to the FCC without first presenting your appeal to USAC, you are encouraged to write first to USAC so that it has an opportunity to resolve your appeal and grant it, if appropriate.
OPTION A - FILE AN APPEAL WITH RHCD
Please follow these guidelines when submitting a Letter of Appeal to RHCD:
- Write and mail your letter to:
Letter of Appeal
Rural Health Care Division
Universal Service Administrative Company
2000 L Street, NW, Suite 200
Washington, DC 20036 - Appeals may be submitted to USAC electronically, by fax, or by e-mail. USAC will automatically reply to incoming e-mails to confirm receipt. E-mails can be submitted in any commonly used word processing format. Appeals to USAC filed by fax must be faxed to 202-776-0080. Appeals submitted by e-mail will be considered filed on a business day if they are received at any time before 12:00 a.m. (midnight), Eastern Standard Time. Similarly, fax transmissions will be considered filed on a business day if the complete transmission is received at any time before 12:00 a.m.
- Please provide necessary contact information. List the name, address, telephone number, fax number, and e-mail address (if available) of the person who can most readily discuss this appeal with USAC.
- Identify the rural health care provider (HCP) Name, HCP Number, and Funding Request Number(s), if appropriate, from the letter.
- Explain the appeal to USAC. Please keep your letter brief and to the point. It must identify a problem and why it is being appealed. USAC support decisions are made by applying non-discriminatory program rules to information submitted by applicants, so a letter simply stating, "We appeal the amount of support" provides no information that could lead to a different decision. Please review the information to be submitted and explain precisely what alternate decision you believe USAC should have reached using that information, within program rules. Please provide documentation to support your appeal.
- Unless you are filing the appeal via e-mail, you must attach a photocopy of the Funding Commitment Letter or letter of denial you are appealing.
- USAC's RHCD management will review all letters of appeal and respond in writing within 45 days of receipt of the appeal. The response will either grant the appeal or will explain why the appeal was not granted.
- If the rural HCP disagrees with USAC's response, it may file an appeal with the FCC within 60 days of the date USAC issued its decision in response to the rural HCP letter of appeal.
OPTION B - FILE AN APPEAL DIRECTLY WITH THE FCC
A health care provider also may file an appeal directly with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of a USAC decision or if the provider disagrees with USAC's response to a Letter of Appeal. The provider must file its appeal to the FCC within 60 days of the date of the USAC decision.
The FCC address to which a provider may direct its appeal is:
Federal Communications Commission
Office of the Secretary
445 12th Street, SW
Room TW-A325
Washington, DC 20554
Documents sent by Federal Express or any other express mail should use the following address:Federal Communications Commission
Office of the Secretary
9300 East Hampton Drive
Capitol Heights, MD 20743
(8AM - 5:30PM ET)For hand-delivered or messenger-delivered items use the following address:
Federal Communications Commission
Office of the Secretary
236 Massachusetts Avenue, NE, Suite 110
Washington, DC 20002
(8AM - 7PM ET)For security purposes, hand-delivered or messenger-delivered documents will not be accepted if they are enclosed in an envelope. Any envelopes must be disposed of before entering the building. Hand deliveries must be held together with rubber bands or fasteners.
Appeals may also be submitted to the FCC electronically, either by the Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS) or by fax. The FCC recommends filing with the ECFS to ensure timely filing. Instructions for using ECFS can be found on the ECFS page of the FCC web site www.fcc.gov/cgb/ecfs. Appeals to the FCC filed by fax must be faxed to 202-418-0187. Electronic appeals will be considered filed on a business day if they are received at any time before 12:00 a.m. (midnight), Eastern Standard Time. Fax transmissions will be considered filed on a business day if the complete transmission is received at any time before 12:00 a.m.
