Announcements

March 8, 2024
RHC Program Inflation-Based Cap Announced for FY2024

The Rural Health Care (RHC) program funding cap for funding year (FY) 2024 is $706,926,603. The internal cap for upfront payments and multi-year commitments under the Healthcare Connect Fund (HCF) Program is $178,496,951. 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 3.6 percent inflation-adjusted increase to the $682,361,586 RHC program funding cap and the $172,294,354 internal cap on multi-year commitments and upfront payments from FY2023. Read the announcement.

March 7, 2024
RHC Program News

View the March Newsletter

March 7, 2024
FCC Releases Order DA 24-214 Extending the Deadline for Funding Year (FY) 2024 Filing Window to May 1, 2024.

On March 7, 2024, the FCC released  Order DA 24-214 extending the deadline for the FY2024 application filing window to May 1, 2024. This means all funding requests (FCC Forms 462 or 466) must be submitted no later than 11:59 p.m. ET on May 1, 2024. 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.

February 5, 2024
USAC One Portal Maintenance – February 9

USAC will perform system updates on One Portal on Friday, February 9 from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.

During this time all applications within One Portal will be inaccessible, including E-File, the E-Rate Productivity Center (EPC), the National Lifeline Accountability Database (NLAD), Rural Health Care’s My Portal and RHC Connect, the High Cost Universal Broadband (HUBB) portal, and several additional smaller-usage applications. The National Verifier WILL NOT be affected during this system update.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

February 1, 2024
RHC Program News

View the February Newsletter

January 11, 2024
RHC Connect Outage Due to System Upgrade: January 14, 2024

RHC Connect will be unavailable on Sunday, January 14 from 8:00 -10:00 p.m. 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.

January 4, 2024
RHC Program News

View the January Newsletter

December 14, 2023
FCC Releases Order FCC 23-110: Continuing the Improvement Rural Health Care Program Procedures

On December 14, 2023, the FCC released a Third Report and Order, Order FCC 23-110. This order improves RHC Program administration and facilitates participation in the program by allowing health care providers that expect to become eligible during a funding year to complete the processes required to request funding, aligns program deadlines, simplifies rules for calculating urban rates, streamlines administrative processes, and frees up unused funding for other purposes.

Rule Changes

The Third Report and Order:

  • Permits health care providers to be granted conditional eligibility, thus allowing them to initiate competitive bidding and request funding while awaiting a final eligibility determination.
  • Provides health care providers more time to complete Service Provider Identification Number (SPIN) changes by moving the SPIN change deadline to align with the invoice filing deadline.
  • Simplifies urban rate calculations by eliminating the seldom-used “standard urban distance” component of the RHC Program rule for determining urban rates in the Telecommunications (Telecom) Program.
  • Allows health care providers to request changes to the dates covered by an evergreen contract.
  • Adopts the FCC Form 460 for eligibility determinations in the Telecom Program, which will eliminate the need for Telecom Program participants to seek an eligibility determine every time they engage in competitive bidding.
  • Establishes a deadline of July 1, 2024, for health care providers to claim undisbursed funding commitments that do not currently have an applicable invoice filing deadline, which would free up for other uses up to $22.2 million in unclaimed RHC Program support from funding year 2019 and prior years.

  For more information, read Order FCC 23-110.

December 7, 2023
RHC Program News

View the December Newsletter

December 1, 2023
Submit Your FY2024 Funding Requests Now!

The funding year (FY)2024 Filing Window opens today, December 1, 2023. Applicants can now submit FY2024 funding requests in RHC Connect using the FCC Form 462 (Funding Request Form) for the Healthcare Connect Fund (HCF) Program and the FCC Form 466 (Funding Request Form ) for the Telecommunications (Telecom) Program. The filing window closes at 11:59 p.m. ET on April 1, 2024. We encourage all applicants to submit funding requests as early as possible during the filing window.

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

RHC Connect

RHC Connect is the online system used to host the HCF forms. RHC Connect allows RHC program reviewers to approve funding requests faster, so that you can benefit from the HCF funding sooner.

HCF Program Resources

Please visit the Welcome to RHC Connect – FCC Form 462 webpage for more information about submitting FY2024 funding requests. The following resources are available to help you submit your funding requests:

Telecom Program Resources
Please visit the Welcome to RHC Connect – FCC Form 466 webpage for more information about submitting FY2024 funding requests. The following resources are available to help you submit your funding requests:

New for the Telecom Program – Urban and Rural Rates for FY2024

On January 26, 2023, the FCC released Order DA 23-6, waiving the requirement to use the Rates Database for urban and rural rates for all health care providers (HCPs) nationwide for FY2024 and FY2025. Applicants will use preexisting rules to calculate rates using Method 1, 2 or 3. Please use the Urban and Rural Rate Information FY2024 and 2025 tip sheet as a resource.

More Information

You must submit funding requests to USAC between December 1, 2023, and April 1, 2024 to be eligible for funding. Read more about funding requests:

November 30, 2023
Appian Downtime for CCPP Annual Report Due to System Upgrade: December 1, 2023

My Portal will be unavailable on Friday, December 1 from 7 p.m. ET until Saturday, December 2 at 12 p.m. ET due to a scheduled system upgrade. During this time, users will be unable to log in to submit required annual reports for the Connected Care Pilot Program (CCPP). We apologize for any inconvenience.

November 15, 2023
RHC-Connect Outage Due to System Upgrade: November 17, 2023

RHC Connect will be unavailable on Friday, November 17 from 7 p.m. until Saturday, November 18 at 12 p.m. 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 2, 2023
RHC Program News

View the November Newsletter

October 30, 2023
Begin Draft Funding Requests for FY2024 on November 1!

In preparation for Funding Year (FY) 2024, applicants can draft funding requests in RHC Connect beginning on November 1. The FY2024 filing window opens on December 1, 2023, and closes on April 1, 2024. 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 FY2024.

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 30, 2023
RHC Connect Update – FCC Form 466 Moving to RHC Connect for FY2024!

The FCC Form 466 (Funding Request Form) for the Telecommunications (Telecom) Program is migrating to RHC Connect for Funding Year (FY) 2024.  Telecom Program applicants submitting FCC Forms 465 and 467 (for funding years prior to FY2024) will continue to do so in My Portal. Participants in the Connected Care Pilot Program (CCPP) will not be affected, unless those applicants also participate in the HCF and/or Telecom Programs.

To learn more, please visit the Welcome to RHC Connect – FCC Form 466 webpage.

October 5, 2023
RHC Program News

View the RHC October Newsletter

September 28, 2023
Don’t Miss Your RHC Program Invoice Filing Deadline!

Per FCC Order 19-78, the deadline for applicants and service providers  in the Healthcare Connect Fund (HCF) and the Telecommunications (Telecom) Programs to submit the FCC Form 463  and the Telecom Invoice is 120 days after June 30, 2023, the service delivery deadline for FY2022. The invoice filing deadline for Funding Year (FY) 2022 Telecom Program commitments and single year FY2022 HCF Program commitments is October 28, 2023. The invoice filing deadline for prior year multi-year commitments, for the HCF Program, may also be October 28, 2023.

Applicants and service providers may request and receive a one-time 120-day extension to the invoice filing deadline. The one-time extension must be requested on or prior to October 28, 2023.

For more information for the HCF program, please visit the Post-Commitment Actions webpage on the USAC website. For the Telecom program, please submit your invoice filing deadline request to the invoicing team at RHC-Invoicing@usac.org.

PLEASE NOTE: If you have submitted a post-commitment change request in RHC Connect, please log into RHC Connect and request an invoice filing deadline extension. We have received a high volume of these requests and may not complete the review prior to October 28.

Unsure of your invoice filing deadline?
The invoice filing deadline is included in the funding commitment letter (FCL), which USAC sends via email after processing the FCC Form 462 (Funding Request Form for HCF) or FCC Form 466 (Funding Request Form for Telecom). You can look up your invoice filing deadline using the RHC Invoice Filing Deadline Tool on the Open Data platform.

For more information, please use the following online resources:

All announcements can be found in the Announcements Archive.

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