RHC Further NPRM Comments Due April 14, Replies Due May 16

The Commission’s Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (Further Notice) that proposed significant changes to the Rural Health Care (RHC) program was published in the Federal Register today, setting the comment cycle. 

Comments are due April 14, 2022, and replies are due May 16, 2022.  

The Further Notice seeks comments on the definition of rural as well as how urban and rural rates should be determined for the RHC Telecom program.  The Further Notice also seeks comment on eliminating the internal cap for multiyear commitments unless the overall demand exceeds available funding and revising the Telecom program invoicing process so that it mirrors the HCF program invoicing process. See BLS Insights dated March 2, 2022, for our summary of the Further Notice.  Briefly, the Further Notice seeks comment on the following topics:

• the definition of “rural”
• further details regarding services to establish rural and urban rates
• methods to determine the calculation of urban and rural rates
• a proposal to only use the internal cap when demand exceeds total support available
• a proposal to revise the telecom program invoicing process
• ·         enhancing the efficiency of application processing and the speed in which funding commitment decisions are made