No Consensus Developing on Need To Reform Rural Healthcare Program
The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition (SHLB) got support from the American Hospital Association on its December petition seeking fundamental changes to the FCC’s rural healthcare (RHC) USF program. USTelecom said the FCC should reject the petition out of hand, a position supported by other groups representing wireline companies. Comments were filed in docket 02-60.
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The AHA supported SHLB’s calls for change, which the group made in combination with six state and regional healthcare networks (see 1512160053). The FCC should increase the Healthcare Connect Fund (HCF) discount percentage from 65 percent to 85 percent, allow some funding for consortium administrative expenses, generally streamline administration of the program and make remote patient monitoring an eligible expense, AHA said. The FCC also should reconsider whether the definition of rural used by the FCC should be more inclusive, it said.
Requiring program participants to pony up 15 percent rather than 35 percent of the costs is “more in line with other broadband support programs administered by the FCC, such as the E-rate program, which supports up to 90 percent of costs for many schools’ and libraries’ broadband connectivity needs,” AHA said. The current level of funding that must come from participants is a major reason funding levels are falling well below the overall program cap of $400 million, AHA said.
TracFone Wireless also supported modernization of the program. “Because the RHC Program has been historically underutilized, TracFone supports measures to expand eligibility and ensure that the Program serves as many providers and patients as possible,” said TracFone, an active player in the Lifeline program. “As a wireless reseller serving rural customers, TracFone understands the importance of bringing broadband to rural communities, and the impact broadband connectivity can have on access to health care and health outcomes.”
USTelecom argued against each of the petition’s proposals, in strongly worded comments. The RHC “is likely already pushing the boundaries of what is allowable” under the Communications Act “and the proposals set forth in the Petition would go far beyond that,” USTelecom said. “Many of the proposals were already considered and denied by the Commission in 2012, and others are matters best left for consideration by Congress.” The FCC should not ignore the demands already placing strains on the USF program, the group said.
ITTA said the FCC should reject the petition as an untimely petition for reconsideration of the 2012 order that established the HCF. “The Commission already has considered and rejected many of the proposals advanced in the Petition, and the Petitioners have provided no new evidence or compelling justification for the Commission to reexamine its prior conclusions, particularly when doing so may very well exceed the bounds of the Commission’s statutory authority,” ITTA said in comments. ITTA conceded that many of the petition's goals are “laudable.”
NTCA also opposed the petition. If the FCC proceeds to reform the program anyway, the group said in its comments, reform should be data-driven. “The Commission should employ an analytical framework that leverages rural broadband providers’ successes, and targets limited RHC Program resources where needed the most,” NTCA said.