The FCC said it gave an indefinite Universal Service Fund...

notice with the order, seeking comment on whether the extension should be made permanent. “The record demonstrates that grandfathered facilities, while not located themselves in a ‘rural area’ under current Commission definitions, play a key role in providing health care services to ‘fundamentally rural’ areas,” the agency said late Tuesday. “In some instances, the grandfathered health care provider is a primary or secondary hub in a network that serves health care providers and patients located in areas that do qualify as ‘rural’ under our current definition. The record also provides numerous examples of the critical services that the petitioners and other affected health care providers offer their patients.” The providers have been paid less than $1.4 million between 1998 and 2009, the commission said. That’s an average of a little less than $6,000 per provider annually. “Without continued funding, these facilities will likely be unable to continue providing telehealth services to rural areas,” the commission said, adding that none of the commenters opposed an interim extension. Only one commenter argued against making the extension permanent. The rest “argue that funding for grandfathered providers promotes telemedicine and other uses of broadband for rural health care purposes, and describe how rural communities would lose access,” the commission said. The order takes immediate effect. Comments on the permanency notice are due 30 days after it’s published in the Federal Register, replies 15 days later.