November 2003

Due to the Thanksgiving Holiday, the RHCD Customer Service Support Center (telephone helpdesk) will close at 8 PM EST on Wednesday, November 26th and will reopen at 8 AM Monday, December 1st. The website will remain open. (11/26/03)

FCC Adopts New Universal Service Rural Health Care Rules (11/14/2003)

Washington, DC - The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today adopted new rules to improve the universal service program for rural health care providers. The program helps rural health care providers obtain access to modern telecommunications and information services for medical and health maintenance purposes. The six-year-old program provides discounted telecommunications services to rural health care providers at rates equal to the rates charged for similar services in urban areas.

The Report and Order, Order on Reconsideration, and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking adopted today seeks to strengthen telehealth networks across the nation, improve the quality of public health care services in rural America, and advance national security and public safety benefits by:

1.	Expanding Eligible Health Care Providers
	Dedicated emergency departments of rural for-profit hospitals will become eligible to receive prorated support. Non-profit entities that function as health care providers on a part-time basis will be eligible to receive prorated support.

2.	Providing Discounted Support for Internet Access
	Rural health care providers will be eligible for discounts of twenty-five percent of the monthly cost of Internet access.

3.	Modifying Calculation of Discounted Services for more Flexibility
	Rural health care providers can now compare the urban and rural rates for functionally similar services as viewed from the perspective of the end user. The FCC expands the maximum allowable distance for distance-based charges to equal the distance from the rural health care provider to the city with the largest population in the state, as opposed to the nearest city in the state with a population of 50,000 or more. The FCC revises its policy to allow rural health care providers to receive discounts for satellite services even where alternative terrestrial-based services may be available, capping such discounts at the amount providers would have received if they purchased functionally similar terrestrial-based alternatives

For a copy of news release or for specific commission statements on the changes, please visit the FCC website.

The official order will be released in about a week. Please check our What's New section for further details.

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Content Last Modified: December 15, 2003