Insights

I trust all are enjoying the New England summer. It is a wonderful time of year to bask in sunshine, outdoor activities, and family.

At New England Telehealth Consortium (NETC), our managing agent, ProInfoNet, is continuing to provide a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Rural Health Care (RHC) Healthcare Connect Fund (HCF) program subsidized private, QoS, redundant 320 site network, along with over 3,360 HCF subsidized circuits throughout New England. The HCF is administered by the Universal Services Administrative Company (USAC). For Fiscal Year 2023 (July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024) our managing agent enabled NETC to successfully submit 157 subsidy funding requests that captured over 10.1 million dollars in subsidy. For FY 24 (July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025) staff have submitted 232 subsidy funding requests totaling over $28.9 million for NETC health care providers. They have completed a substantial amount of work in achieving that very significant increase in funding requests and the doubling of total dollars requested. Since 2015, the NETC/ProInfoNet staff have captured $82.7 million of subsidy for New England health care providers. A pretty impressive record! I extend a sincere thank you to Jim Rogers, President of ProInfoNet, and his team for their dedication and commitment to NETC and its healthcare providers.

As I noted in the last newsletter, the ProInfoNet staff have developed the expertise, knowledge, experience, and effective administrative procedures to successfully navigate the Rural Health Care (RHC) Healthcare Connect Fund (HCF) program rules and regulations. The process is long and complex. From gaining a health care provider’s (HCP) eligibility, to determining the HCP’s telecommunication and equipment needs, specifications, and requirements, and then conducting an open, public, competitive, and rigorous bidding process from which the HCP can select the vendor or vendors that best meet their needs. At that point, all that information has to be incorporated into the funding request and submitted to USAC. It is a months-long process, and I mean months-long! From start to finish (the receipt of the Funding Commitment Letter [FCL]), the process regularly exceeds 12 months and often can take even longer.

Later this year, several NETC/ProInfoNet staff will attend the annual School, Health, Libraries Broadband Coalition (SHLB) AnchorNETS conference in Arlington, VA. We will be able to get a firsthand update on the RHC program and specifically the Healthcare Connect Fund. We also hope to meet with FCC and USAC staff for one-on-one discussions of current issues. Given the conference’s proximity to Washington, D.C., we hope to schedule meetings with some of our congressional delegations to highlight the important role the HCF plays in the provision of healthcare in the New England region. It is important to keep policy makers and regulators informed of the impact of the RHC funding and the work that NETC does in the region.

The NETC Executive Committee continues to meet on a monthly basis. The committee members are: Red Hutchinson, retired, LRG Healthcare, NH; Mark St. John, Maine General, ME, Robin Winslow, Hometown Health Center, Greg Van Buren, The University of Vermont Health Network, VT; Scott Reid, HealthReach Community Health Centers, ME; David Valcik, Northern Light Health, ME; Tim Smith, retired, ME.

My thanks to all of you who have continued to support our efforts. Please don’t hesitate to contact me (bthibeau@outlook.com or 207-941-1040) or any member of the Executive Committee, should you have questions.