USACRural Health CareResources
Announcements

Announcements

April 10, 2025
Scheduled Maintenance on USAC.org

USAC will perform scheduled maintenance on USAC.org on Thursday, April 17 from 9 p.m. – midnight. During this time, users may experience disruptions or outages when visiting USAC.org. We apologize for the inconvenience.

March 13, 2025
FCC Releases Order DA 25-224 Extending the Deadline for Funding Year (FY) 2025 Filing Window to June 2, 2025.

On March 13, 2025, the FCC released FCC Order DA 25-224 extending the deadline for the FY2025 Application Filing Window to June 2, 2025. This means all funding requests (FCC Forms 462 or 466) must be submitted no later than 11:59 p.m. ET on June 2, 2025. We highly encourage you to submit your funding requests as early as possible in the filing window.

Visit USAC’s website for more information about filing windows.

March 7, 2025
RHC Program Inflation-Based Cap Announced for FY2025

The Rural Health Care (RHC) program funding cap for funding year (FY) 2025 is $723,892,841. The internal cap for upfront payments and multi-year commitments under the Healthcare Connect Fund (HCF) Program is $182,780,877. The internal cap for upfront payments and multi-year commitments will apply only if RHC program demand exceeds available funding. These new caps represent a 2.4 percent inflation-adjusted increase to the $706,926,603 RHC program funding cap and the $178,496,951 internal cap on multi-year commitments and upfront payments from FY2024. Read the announcement.

March 6, 2025
RHC Program News

View the RHC March Newsletter

March 3, 2025
Submit Third Party Authorizations (TPAs) in RHC Connect!

If you are a health care provider (HCP) participating in the Healthcare Connect Fund (HCF) or Telecommunications (Telecom Program), and a consultant or other third party (i.e., anyone who is not employed by the HCP) will file forms on behalf of your site, a third-party authorization (TPA) must be filed with USAC. A TPA provides written authorization to USAC, allowing the third party to complete and submit forms on behalf of the HCP or consortium in the HCF or Telecom Program. RHC program participants may now submit third party authorizations in RHC Connect. Please use the following resources to submit your TPAs:

As a reminder for consortia applicants, Letters of Authorization (LOA) and Letters of Exemption (LOE) are also submitted in RHC Connect. Please use the following resources to submit LOAs and LOEs:

February 28, 2025
SPIN Lookup Tool Available in Open Data!

Do you want to see if a service provider is registered with USAC? Do you want to see if a service provider has provided the required certifications on their FCC forms, allowing them to participate in the RHC program? A SPIN Lookup Tool is now available on the RHC Open Data webpage. 

The RHC SPIN Lookup Tool can be used to view and export service provider profile data found in RHC Connect. This data includes important information regarding the service provider, such as contact information and details regarding the FCC Forms 498 and 499.

For more information and to use the tool, visit the RHC SPIN Lookup Tool webpage.

February 6, 2025
RHC Program News

View the RHC February Newsletter

January 2, 2025
RHC Program News

View the RHC January Newsletter

December 20, 2024
RHC Connect Outage Due to System Upgrade: December 22, 2024

RHC Connect will be unavailable on Sunday, December 22 from 7:00 p.m.- midnight ET due to a scheduled system upgrade. During this time, users will be unable to log in to and use RHC Connect. We apologize for any inconvenience

December 5, 2024
RHC Program News

View the RHC December Newsletter

December 2, 2024
Submit your FY2025 Funding Requests Now!

The Funding Year (FY) 2025 filing window opened yesterday, on December 1, 2024. Healthcare Connect Fund (HCF) Program applicants and Telecommunications (Telecom) Program applicants can now submit the FCC Form 462 and the FCC Form 466 in RHC Connect. The filing window closes at 11:59 p.m. ET on April 1, 2025. We encourage all applicants to submit their funding requests as early as possible during the filing window.

Here are some resources to assist you during the submission process:

November 22, 2024
RHC Connect Outage Due to System Upgrade: November 24, 2024

RHC Connect will be unavailable on Sunday, November 24 from 7:00 p.m.- midnight ET due to a scheduled system upgrade. During this time, users will be unable to log in to and use RHC Connect. We apologize for any inconvenience.

November 15, 2024
Appain Outage Due to System Upgrade: December 15, 2024

My Portal will be unavailable on Friday, December 15, 2024 from 7:00 p.m. -9:00 p.m. due to a scheduled system upgrade. During this time, users will be unable to log in to and use My Portal. We apologize for any inconvenience.

November 7, 2024
RHC Program News

View the RHC November Newsletter

November 1, 2024
Begin Draft Funding Requests for FY2025 on November 1!

In preparation for Funding Year (FY) 2025, applicants can draft funding requests in RHC Connect beginning on November 1. The FY2025 filing window opens on December 1, 2024, and closes on April 1, 2025. Draft forms will remain in RHC Connect and can be submitted on December 1.  

Healthcare Connect Fund (HCF) Program and Telecommunication (Telecom) Program participants will use RHC Connect to submit their FCC Forms 462 and FCC Forms 466 (Funding Request Forms) for FY2025.

NOTE: Connected Care Pilot Program projects will continue to use My Portal to submit all FCC forms.

To learn more, please visit the following webpages:

October 31, 2024
Update to Rurality Search Tool on the USAC Website

On June 4, 2024, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released FCC Order DA 24-526.  In this Order, the Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB)  of the FCC updated information used to determine eligibility in the Rural Health Care (RHC) program to reflect results of the 2020 decennial United States census. RHC’s Rurality Tier Search Tool has been updated to reflect the new census data. The RHC outreach team has posted a tip sheet on that webpage to help you determine if and when a change for a particular HCP in the RHC program will occur.

For more information, please visit the Rurality Tier Search Tool on the USAC website.

October 30, 2024
All Connected Care Pilot Program (CCPP) Project Deadlines Are Extended!

On October 28, 2024, the FCC released Order DA 24-1110 establishing a uniform completion deadline of December 31, 2025, for all projects funded by the Connected Care Pilot Program (CCPP). This waiver permits projects to continue using their pre-approved program budgets through the end of 2025 at the latest. This means that all projects may continue to submit forms and receive funding for services rendered through December 31, 2025, rather than being bound by the original project end date that was three years from the project’s first funding commitment. Selected projects remain subject to all other CCPP rules including competitive bidding rules, funding request and commitment procedures, data reporting requirements, and document retention requirements.

For more information, read FCC Order DA 24-1110.

October 25, 2024
RHC Connect Outage Due to System Upgrade: October 27, 2024

RHC Connect will be unavailable on Sunday, October 27 from 7:00 p.m.- midnight ET due to a scheduled system upgrade. During this time, users will be unable to log in to and use RHC Connect. We apologize for any inconvenience.

October 22, 2024
RHC Connect Outage Due to System Upgrade: October 27, 2024

RHC Connect will be unavailable on Sunday, October 27 from 7:00 p.m.- midnight ET due to a scheduled system upgrade. During this time, users will be unable to log in to and use RHC Connect. We apologize for any inconvenience.

All announcements can be found in the Announcements Archive.

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