The Government Accountability Office (GAO) needs to study FCC han...

program aimed at using broadband, more needs to be done, Rockefeller told GAO. “I am concerned that the agency’s programs have not lived up to their statutory potential,” he said in his letter to Acting Comptroller General Gene Dodaro, a copy of which we obtained. With broadband infrastructure costs soaring, public policymakers “must find ways to harness the power of telemedicine to provide quality and affordable care” to residents in rural areas, the letter said. A review of FCC rural health care policies could provide a useful tool for policymakers interested in improving the programs, the letter said. Rockefeller asked to be a “co-requestor” for a review GAO already has underway examining the FCC’s rural health care programs. The FCC established the $417 million rural health care program to increase patient access to care using telemedicine and electronic health records. The program is designed to ensure that rural health care providers pay no more than their urban counterparts for telecommunications services needed to provide health care. The commission established a pilot program, administered by the Universal Service Administrative Co., to help build out broadband telehealth projects. The commission announced in April that it had approval to spend $46 million to build five telehealth networks linking hospitals in Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Wyoming, and a separate project in Alaska. There are 67 projects nationwide eligible to receive funding for networks serving 6,000 health care facilities in 42 states and three U.S. territories. Of the 67, the FCC reported in an April statement that 29 had selected vendors to build out networks. Some of the projects have run into difficulty and petitioned the commission for permission to merge. The most recent request came in August, when the commission issued an order granting a request from two participants to merge their projects. Rockefeller said in his letter to the GAO he hopes to identify ways to “further develop the FCC’s present efforts.” “I believe a review of the FCC’s rural health care policies by [GAO] would provide a useful tool for policymakers interested in improving these vital programs.”