Christmas and New Year's Day holiday notice

The RHC Customer Support Center will close at 12 noon on December 24, 2009 and will remain closed on December 25, 2009 in observance of Christmas holiday. The Customer Support Center will resume normal operations on Monday, December 28, 2009 at 8:00 a.m. EDT. Additionally, the support center will also be closed on January 1st in observance of New Year's holiday and will resume normal operations on Monday, January 4, 2010 at 8:00 a.m. EDT.

RHC customer service department address change

The Rural HealthCare Division's customer service department has moved to a new address. All forms, supporting documentation, and other correspondence should be mailed to:

Universal Service Administrative Company
Rural Health Care Program
30 Lanidex Plaza West, P.O. Box 685
Parsippany, NJ 07054-0685

Supporting documentation may also be faxed to 973-599-6514. Note that FCC Forms should not be faxed.  All FCC Forms should either be mailed to the above address or filed and e-certified online at www.usac.org/rhc.  Applicants may continue to email their questions to rhc-admin@universalservice.org or call 800-229-5476. 

RHC will be closed Friday, November 27, 2009, the day after Thanksgiving

RHC will be closed Friday, November 27, 2009, the day after Thanksgiving.  The website will be open to post forms.  You may send questions to rhc-admin@universalservice.org or call 800-229-5476 and leave us a message.  We will reopen on Monday, November 30, 2009.

Scheduled System Maintenance – Website application Outage

Website applications will be unavailable on Saturday, November 14, 2009 from 10:00AM until Midnight EST due to scheduled system maintenance. The outage will affect various web applications throughout the website.

Scheduled System Maintenance – Health Care Provider (HCP) Login Outage

The Health Care Provider (HCP) Login page including all online forms and the commitments search tool will be unavailable on Saturday, November 14, 2009 from 4:00PM until Midnight EST due to scheduled system maintenance. The outage will affect all pages located at: http://www.rhc.universalservice.org/. During this time users will be unable to file, certify, and search for certain forms online.

RHC Fund Year 2006 closeouts

RHC is closing out Fund Years 2006. Service Providers Click here to see if your name appears on this list. If your name is listed it means that RHC needs additional documentation in order to close out the FRN. Please email rhc-admin@universalservice.org or call 1-800-229-5476 if you need assistance in determining what is needed from RHC to complete the application process.

Service Providers: Changes to the Remittance Statement (11/3/09)

Beginning January 2010, USAC will issue remittance statements containing more information to better help Service Providers. In addition to the current information already provided, the new remittance statement will contain the service provider invoice number, health care provider (HCP) number, HCP name, and the Funding Request Number (FRN).

Click here [PDF] to see an example of the new remittance statement.

RHC is now posting discussion summaries for our monthly outreach calls that occur on the 2nd Thursday of every month.

These summaries will be available a few days after the conference calls and will be posted to the Monthly Conference Call page on the website.

The importance of including the correct billing account number (BAN) on your FCC Form 466/466-A and FCC Form 467

In order to process your application for funding, USAC requires that all applicants indicate the correct billing account number (BAN) on their FCC Form 466/466-A and FCC Form 467.  Applicants should place the correct BAN in Line 28 of their Form 466, Line 22 of their Form 466-A, and Line 9 of their Form 467.  It is extremely important that applicants obtain the correct BAN from their service provider prior to filing any forms with USAC.  The BAN is typically found on the rural rate supporting documentation submitted with the Form 466 and Form 466A. Failure to provide the correct BAN will cause delays in processing your application for funding and delays in receiving credits from your service provider for eligible services. 

USAC highly recommends contacting your service provider to determine your BAN prior to filing your forms.  If you are unable to obtain this information from your service provider, please call our customer service center at 800-229-5476, or by email at rhc-admin@universalservice.org. 

RHC Customer Service Help Desk Availability May Be Affected Friday Afternoon, October 23

Due an administrative change occurring at the RHC Customer Service Help Desk during the afternoon of Friday, October 23, 2009, you may have difficulty reaching a live operator during afternoon business hours. If you reach voicemail, please leave a detailed message and someone will return your call late Friday afternoon or on Monday October 26th. You may also send an email to rhc-admin@usac.org and we will respond as quickly as possible.

Pilot Program applicants who are unable to reach their coaches should also leave a voice mail.

We apologize for this inconvenience.

FCC Announces Mandatory Electronic Disbursement of USF Support Payments

The FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau announced September 28 that all federal Universal Service Fund (USF) support payments must be made by electronic funds transfer (See Public Notice DA 09-2126).

The notice states that recipients of USF support payments shall provide their financial institution information and other relevant information on FCC Form 498, which is being updated to reflect these requirements.  USAC encourages all service providers to update their Form 498 information using USAC's E-File System. Once the updated 498 form is processed, all following support payments will be made electronically.

The Wireline Competition Bureau will issue a further public notice announcing the effective date of the electronic payment requirement. After the effective date, USAC will not make USF support payments to any entity that has not provided financial institution information sufficient to enable payment through electronic funds transfer.

Please note: Service providers in the Schools and Libraries Program that currently use the Billed Entity Applicant Reimbursement (BEAR Form 472) form will continue to receive check payments even if they provide electronic banking information until further notice.

If you have any questions, please contact USAC at (888) 641-8722 or customerservice@bcd.universalservice.org.

Learn More About RHC Funding for Redundant Circuits

Redundant, secondary or fail-over services (to be used in case of an outage) are eligible for support under the Rural Health Care program.  However, the cost and bandwidth of the service should reasonably reflect its use as a secondary service and the applicant should determine that it is the most cost-effective option available.  Applicants seeking such redundant services should indicate that on their FCC Form 465 so vendors can appropriately scale their response in the same manner as primary service bids are requested.  Once bids are received, the applicant should score each bid based on the needs of the HCP and determine which bid or bids is most cost-effective. 

USAC is Going GREEN with Electronically Issued Funding Commitment Letters!

USAC will now begin issuing your Funding Commitment Letter (FCL) electronically.  The HCP contact (physical location contact) and the HCP mailing contact will now receive their FCL via email. Issuing FCLs through email will allow you to receive your FCL more quickly, reduce the amount of paper used, and help the environment. A hard copy of the FCL will still be sent to the HCP mailing contact.

In order to ensure that your FCL is sent to the correct individual, please check that all email and mailing addresses on your FCC Form 465 are up-to-date.

If you need to update your contact information or have any other questions or concerns about our new process, send us an e-mail and someone will contact you shortly.

As a reminder, please remember to print off a copy of your FCL to maintain for your records. Per USAC guidelines, all applicants and service providers are required to maintain documentation for 5 years. 

USAC will be closed Monday, September 7, 2009 in observance of Labor Day

USAC will be closed Monday, September 7, 2009 in observance of the Labor Day holiday.  The website will be open to post forms.  You may send questions to rhc-admin@universalservice.org or call 800-229-5476 and leave us a message.  We will reopen on Tuesday, September 8, 2009.

Understanding the Application Process Webinar Presentation

Understanding the Application Process Webinar Presentation [PDF, 1.8MB]

RHC site will be down 8:00 p.m. Friday, August 14, 2009 - 5:00 p.m. Sunday, August 16, 2009

Maintenance begins:     8:00 p.m. Friday, August 14, 2009
Maintenance ends:         5:00 p.m. Sunday, August 16, 2009

During this time, Service Providers will not be able to search posted FCC Form 465s from the normal site that holds these forms.  We will post a spreadsheet to the RHC Search page which will contain a list of all of the FCC Form 465s that are open for bidding while the site is down.

"Understanding the Application Process" Webinar – August 26 – Register Today!

Rural Health Care Training Presentations

Reminder: Today is the last day to submit an FCC Form 466 or 466A to receive support for Funding Year 2008

Forms submitted online or postmarked prior to midnight tonight (EDT) will be accepted.  If you have any questions, call 800.229.5476.

Have you received your discount for FY2005, 2006 and 2007?

A number of Health Care Provider (HCP) who requested funding for FY2005, 2006 and 2007 have not yet received their discount. In most cases this is because the Health Care Provider has not completed the application process. Prior to receiving support from the universal service support mechanism, you must complete the FCC Form 467 and return it to the Rural Health Care (RHC) Division. The FCC Form 467 confirms to RHC that the HCP did receive the requested telecommunications or internet service from their service provider. It is only upon receiving a completed FCC Form 467 from you that RHC can finalize approval of the requested discount and inform your service provider to issue you the discount.

You can complete the form online at USAC's Online Forms Page by signing into your account. Select the applicable funding year (2005, 2006 or 2007) and check to see if you have any 467 forms in draft status. If the form is in draft status it means that RHC has not received a completed form and you have not received your discount for the service. If you have any questions regarding how to complete this form, please contact USAC at 1-800-229-5476.

USAC Website Scheduled Outage - Saturday, June 13 from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m.

USAC's website [ www.usac.org | www.universalservice.org | www.lifelinesupport.org ] will be unavailable Saturday, June 13th from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. due to scheduled maintenance.

Rural Health Care System Maintenance on Friday, June 19, 2009, 9pm to 10 pm EST

Please note due to a rolling system maintenance being performed on our web servers on Friday, June 19, 2009 between 9:00p.m. and 10:00 pm, there is a possibility of intermittent outages, and applicants may temporarily lose connection to the RHC site.  We recommend that applicants refrain from working on any Forms during this time.   We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

The Rural Health Care Customer Support Center will be Closed on May 25, 2009 in Observance of Memorial Day.

The Rural Health Care Customer Support Center will be closed on Monday, May 25, 2009 in observance of Memorial Day. The Customer Support Center will resume normal operations on Tuesday, May 26, 2009 at 8:00 a.m. EDT.

Where is Rural Health Care?

USAC's Rural Health Care Division will be attending a number of conferences, meetings, and trainings over the next two months. Check out the Rural Health Care Division's Calendar for dates, locations, and more information.

"Rural Health Care Pilot Program Hour-Long Presentation in Tampa, FL

Rural Health Care Training Presentations

Window Opening for Funding Year 2009

We are pleased to announce that the application window for Funding Year 2009 will open on Thursday, April 9, 2009.  Applicants will be able to post their Form 465 for Funding Year 2009 (July 1, 2009 – June 30, 2010).  Below are some tips and links to our website to help you with this process.

• To be eligible for a full year's support, an applicant must post Form 465 by June 2, 2009, unless you have an Evergreen Contract (see below). Remember you must wait 28-days for bids before entering into a service agreement.
• If you have an "Evergreen Contract " but might change your service or renew your contract during Fund Year 2009, you should post a Form 465. (Evergreen Contracts must have been verified by RHCD in a prior Fund Year.)
• If you have enabled E-Cert, go to Applicant Login to submit and post a Form 465. If you have not enabled E-Cert, but are eligible for E-Cert as a prior applicant, login and enable E-Cert before completing Form 465.

For other tips and best practices please follow this link to our website. If you have any questions please call our customer service center at (800) 229-5476.

The RHC Monthly call rescheduled for 19 March, 2009 at 2:00 EST

Due to technical difficulties, the Rural Health Care monthly call scheduled for today at 2:00 was unable to take place. The problem has since been corrected, and we apologize for the inconvenience this has caused.

USAC is rescheduling this call for 19 March, 2009 at 2:00 EST.

NOTICE: The RHC Monthly Call for January 8, 2009 is cancelled

The Rural Health Care Monthly Call for January 8, 2009 is cancelled