RHC Connect Updates

RHC Connect Maintenance Schedule

The Rural Healthcare Program (RHC) periodically deploys software updates to improve usability and functionality of RHC Connect, the RHC program’s online user portal.

The table below outlines dates for monthly system maintenance. All dates and times are subject to change and new dates will be added as they become available. Outage times are noted in Eastern Time.

 

Dates – Time	Reason	System Outage? (Yes/No)
March 20, 2026 – 7 p.m. to 12 a.m. ET	Deployment	Yes
	Regular Maintenance	No

User Experience-Related System Enhancements

RHC is committed to continually improving the stakeholder experience in RHC Connect.  Have an idea or suggestion? We appreciate stakeholder feedback, and we continue to evaluate each request for potential inclusion in the future. Please send comments and feedback to the RHC outreach team at RHC-Outreach@usac.org

RHC is pleased to share the following enhancements to RHC Connect that we have implemented, informed by the feedback from our stakeholder community. The list below includes the date USAC released the enhancement, a summary of the feedback, and a summary of the enhancement implemented in response to the feedback.

March 20, 2026

****PENDING****

February 27, 2026

Topic	Stakeholder Feedback	Enhancement Summary
Administrative ease – FCC Form 466	The ability to copy data from prior year forms.	Applicants now have the option to pre-populate their FCC Form 466 with data from the prior year, saving significant time and preventing input errors.
Account holder transparency – Organization Detail Screen	Updated view of account holders – More information on the Organizations Detail screen.	Internal and external views of the Organization Details > Summary page have been redesigned to better display all account holders. Third-party account holders are now visually separated from traditional account holders. Further, RHC Connect will now show TPA/LOA expiration and links to the TPA/LOA document directly on the page. This enhanced view should make it easier for internal and external users to understand who has access to the HCP.
Third-party warning	Stakeholders want to be made aware of any change or new submission of a TPA when there’s another consultant group attached to that TPA.	If an applicant attempts to submit a TPA for an HCP that is already actively associated with another consultant group, there will be a warning presented to that applicant. TPA reviewers will be presented with a similar warning so that they can perform any necessary outreach.
Third-party warning	Related to above.	Note required for account holder change – Now, when an RHC user changes the account holders for an HCP, they will be required to add a note or an attachment. This small change will increase auditability.