FCC to step up rural broadband for health care

IDG Media/Bloomberg Businessweek: "The U.S. Federal Communications Commission took the first step Thursday toward reworking a US$400 million-a-year program to subsidize telecommunications services to rural health-care facilities, with the new emphasis on broadband. The commission voted unanimously to approve a notice of proposed rulemaking, or NPRM, designed to bring affordable broadband connectivity to more than 2,000 rural hospitals and clinics across the U.S. The purpose of an NPRM is to ask members of the public whether they agree with the proposed changes" (Gross, 7/15).

The Associated Press: "The agency is proposing to leave the $400 million funding cap in place, but allow the program to pay for 50 percent of monthly broadband access charges at eligible health care facilities — up from 25 percent now. The FCC also wants to use the program to subsidize the construction of broadband networks. And it is seeking to expand the range of health care facilities that can qualify for funding to include acute-care facilities such as renal dialysis centers, administrative offices and health care data centers" (7/15).