The Rural Health Care (RHC) program provides funding to eligible health care providers for telecommunications and broadband services needed to deliver health care. The goal of the program is to improve the quality of health care available to patients in rural communities by ensuring that eligible health care providers have access to telecommunications and broadband services. As an independent not-for-profit organization designated by the FCC, USAC administers the RHC program and all other programs associated with the Universal Service Fund (USF).
- As a member of the UAMS e-Link consortium, you may qualify for USAC support, resulting in significant savings for eligible services and/or network equipment
- UAMS e-Link vendors offer discounted network equipment at 50-75% off list price
- Additional discounts of up to 65% are available for USAC eligible members
- All these discounts can be a game-changer for rural providers
- Examples of Common Products and Services that are typically eligible for support
Are you eligible?
- Must be a public or nonprofit entity
- Must be one of the following:
- A post-secondary educational institution offering healthcare instruction, such as teaching hospitals or medical schools
- A community health center or health center providing healthcare to migrants
- A local health department or agency
- A community mental health center
- A not-for-profit hospital
- A rural health clinic
- A dedicated emergency room of a rural for-profit hospital
- A skilled nursing facility (SNF)
- A consortium of HCPs that includes at least one facility mentioned above
- Must be in a rural location as defined by the FCC. If your site is not in a rural area, it still may be eligible to apply to the HCF Program as part of the e-Link consortium.
How to Determine Eligibility
One benefit of being an e-link Consortium member is that we do all the filing for you for 10% of your organization’s cost savings. We will need a Form 460 completed by you and a signed Letter of Agency (LOA) added to your organization’s letterhead. We file the documents on your behalf to see if your health care organization is eligible for USAC discounts.
Request Information
To find out if your organization is eligible for game-changing USAC savings, contact us at 501-526-6933, email UAMSeLink@uams.edu or complete the Request More Information form.