Davis Wright Tremaine Advisory Bulletin
FCC Funds Telehealth Deployment through Rural
Health Care Pilot Program
By Randall
B. Lowe and Travis Litman
[May 2007]
On May 7, 2007, the Federal Communications
Commission (“Commission”) closed its filing window for
applications to its Rural Health Care (RHC) Pilot Program (“Pilot
Program”). Established by Order in September 2006, the Pilot
Program marks the first step for the Commission as it considers
revising its Universal Service Rural Health Care Rules (47 C.F.R.
501 et seq.). By the institution of the Pilot Program, the Commission
has embarked toward a new paradigm of funds-disbursement to enhance
public and non-profit health care providers’ access to advanced
telecommunications and information services.
For rural health care providers, RHC funding traditionally affords
the means by which basic telephony and Internet services can be
obtained at similar costs that urban healthcare providers expect
to incur. The Pilot Program goes one step further in funding not
only offsets, but also the design and build out of new broadband
networks to achieve further opportunities in telehealth and telemedicine
implementation.
For the first time, the Commission has opened the RHC support mechanism
to fund the deployment of broadband networks and connections to
National LambdaRail for health care providers. Under the Program,
applicants were invited to submit proposals by which they were free
to choose any technology or provider of broadband connectivity in
order to enhance their telemedicine and telehealth activities. In
turn, the Commission will consider the proposals and may fund up
to 85 percent of the total costs of broadband deployment for successful
applicants.
The funds for the Pilot Program will come from the Commission’s
RHC support mechanism, which was created in response to the Telecommunications
Act of 1996’s charge to provide rural healthcare providers
with “an affordable rate for the services necessary for the
provision of telemedicine and instruction, relating to such services.”
However, since then, the Commission’s resulting RHC support
mechanism has been chronically underutilized. To help this underutilization,
the Commission now estimates that approximately $55-60 million will
be available under the Pilot Program.
The Commission’s confessed purpose of the Pilot Program is
to provide information and “lay the foundation for a future
rulemaking proceeding that will explore permanent rules to enhance
access to advanced services for public and non-profit healthcare
providers.” In fact, there is currently an open proceeding
seeking comment on further modification to the RHC support mechanism.
The Commission’s Pilot Program opens the door to not only
how the Pilot Program will be implemented, but also what will be
the Commission’s next steps to address universal service support
for rural health care providers generally.
Davis Wright Tremaine LLP offers
integrated expertise in health, communications and information technology
law. If you would like additional information about the RHC Pilot
Program or other related matters, please contact us.
This advisory is a publication of
the Health Information Technology and Communications Groups of Davis
Wright Tremaine LLP. Our purpose in publishing this advisory is
to inform our clients and friends of recent legal developments.
It is not intended, nor should it be used, as a substitute for specific
legal advice as legal counsel may only be given in response to inquiries
regarding particular situations. Attorney Advertising. Prior results
do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Copyright 2007, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP.
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