Rural Healthcare Funding Bids Trimmed as Demand Tops Cap; SHLB Calls for Overhaul
Qualifying USF rural healthcare demand of $275 million exceeded available funding of $254 million for the filing window of Sept. 1-Nov. 30, said a Universal Service Administrative Co. release Monday. Recipients will thus receive a pro-rata percentage of 92.5 percent…
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of their qualifying requests. The FCC capped the rural healthcare annual budget at $400 million, and qualified recipients got $133 million in a previous window for funding year 2016 (there is also about $13 million in administrative expenses). The Schools, Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition "appreciates the difficult position" USAC faced because "for the first time, demand for RHC program funding" exceeded the cap, said John Windhausen, SHLB executive director, in a statement. "Unfortunately, this will mean that many rural health centers will be forced to pay more to maintain their existing telemedicine connections, and some of these clinics may be forced off the network altogether, which jeopardizes the quality of health care delivered to rural America. This funding crisis points to the need for comprehensive reform of the RHC program, which the SHLB Coalition requested in its Petition for Rulemaking filed in December 2015," he said, citing RHC as the only USF program that "has not been fully reformed."