FCC Grants SHLB Waiver of RHC Rates Database

Rural Health Care telecommunications program providers don't have to use the new rates database for funding years 2021 and 2022, an FCC Wireline Bureau order said Thursday in docket 17-310. "In the absence of a national rural Rates Database, we believe that the preexisting rules result in rural rates that most accurately reflect the current costs of providing service," the order said. The bureau also extended the service delivery deadline until June 30, 2022. The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition petitioned the FCC to waive the implementation of the database in January. The order was "well-intentioned," but the "actual rates in the database could have eliminated any funding at all for many rural healthcare providers," said John Windhausen, SHLB executive director, in a statement. SHLB said it found evidence of "widespread problems with the rates database, affecting 42 of the lower 48 states, that could have tripled rural healthcare providers’ average broadband costs."