USF Rural Healthcare Funding Cuts Hit Individual Providers, Consortia; SHLB Concerned
USF rural healthcare subsidies will be cut 16 percent to individual providers and by 26 percent to consortia for the 2017 funding year ending June 30, said the Universal Service Administrative Co. Because RHC fund demand in recent years exceeded…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
an FCC $400 million annual cap, pro rata cuts have been applied to providers. The commission in December waived the cap for this year (see 1712140054). The order "directed USAC to use any unused RHC Program funds from prior funding years to offset the proration for individual rural health care providers (HCPs), and afterwards for consortia if there were funds remaining," USAC said. "After applying these unused funds to individual HCPs, there were not sufficient funds to offset the proration for consortia as well. So, as per the FCC Order, only individual HCPs will receive this prior year funding. USAC will commit the unused funds, which amount to $31.35 million, for individual HCPs in both the Telecommunications (Telecom) and Healthcare Connect Fund (HCF) programs." The proration factor for consortia in the HCF program is 74.47 percent, and for individual HCPs in both programs is 84.4 percent, it said. The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition is "extremely disappointed" with cuts exceeding last year's 7.5 percent reduction, said Executive Director John Windhausen, citing market changes driving demand. "When rural Americans are struggling to obtain high-quality Internet connections and are also suffering from the closure of rural hospitals, the announced funding reductions -- which will lead to price increases for health care providers across the country -- will have a devastating impact on the quality of rural healthcare," he said, urging the FCC to "substantially increase" the cap for FY 2018. Numerous NPRM commenters backed a funding increase, though some said reforms were needed first (see 1802050026 and 1803070043).