Rural Health Care

Step 7: Credit Health Care Provider for Service

Once the telecommunications carrier or Internet service provider (referred to collectively as "service providers") receives the health care provider (HCP) support schedule, the service provider must start providing credit during the next possible billing cycle.

Service providers may provide credit one of two ways:

  • Send a check to the billed entity based on the Billing Account Number from the HCP support schedule
  • Provide a credit on the bill of the billed entity based on the Billing Account Number from the HCP support schedule

How to Provide Support Credit on a Bill
Rural Health Care support functions as a credit provided to the billed entity after taxes.  It is recommended that the credit be provided at the bottom of the bill as "USF Support."  The support amount on the bill must be subtracted after taxes and other miscellaneous charges are applied.

How to Provide Multiple Credits on a Single Bill
If multiple credits are provided on a single bill (e.g., more than one HCP location credit to same Billing Account Number), it is recommended that the individual credit amounts for each service are broken out for each HCP location and Funding Request Number (FRN).

Example
A service provider receives three HCP support schedules for three separate HCP locations.  Each HCP is a member of a consortium and they all have the same Billing Account Number.  Support for each HCP is $100 per month.  It is recommended that the service provider show three line items at the bottom of the bill with the FRN as shown below:

FRN Amount
USF Support - 13001 = $100.00
USF Support - 13020 = $100.00
USF Support - 13034 = $100.00
Service providers must invoice USAC for each HCP and FRN separately based on the HCP support schedule.

How to Determine the First Month's Credit
The credit amount should equal the support amount on the HCP support schedule for the Billing Account Number except when the first month's credit is provided. The first month's credit should equal the support amount for the current month plus all previous months on the schedule (retroactive support).

The example below describes how the first month's support credit is calculated.

  • The HCP support schedule indicates that an HCP should receive $100 per month for 12 months between July 2004 and June 2005
  • The service provider receives the schedule in February 2005
  • The March 2005 bill to the billed entity should include support for July 2004 through March 2005, or nine months of support, a $900 credit.

The service provider may wish to include a statement next to the first month's credit indicating that the support is for several months (USF Support - July 2004 to March 2005 = $900).


Last modified on 1/6/2006