The Federal Communications Commission’s Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB) has announced the availability of $197.98 million in unused funds to increase the Rural Health Care (RHC) Program funding for 2020. The WCB directed USAC to carry forward this amount of unused funds from prior funding years to the extent necessary to satisfy funding year 2020 RHC Program demand as of the close of the application filing window for this year, that is, June 30, 2020.
This announcement is made following the Commission’s rules adopted in June 2018, where the FCC addressed increasing demand in the RHC Program by increasing the annual RHC Program funding cap and directing the WCB to announce the specific amount of unused funds from prior funding years to be carried forward.
The RHC Program funding cap for year 2020 is $604,759,306. The cap for upfront payment and multi-year commitments under the Healthcare Connect Fund Program is $152,700,000. These 2020 caps represent a 1.8% inflation-adjusted increase to the RHC Program funding.
