Timeline
The enrollment window is limited, and the process must be finalized before the closing date for an entity to begin receiving a subsidy in the following year. Act now to begin the process.
January 1, 2021 • Enrollment window open
April 30, 2021 • Enrollment window closes
July 1, 2021 – June 30 2022 • USAC funding period
Eligibility
Many healthcare providers are permitted to apply for broadband subsidies, including hospitals, community health centers, mental health centers, rural health clinics, skilled nursing facilities, and others. Typically, your organization must be established as a non-profit or governmental provider, but there are exceptions.
Connect Health Partners will help you understand these criteria, and with your permission, we’ll submit an application on your behalf. Eligibility decisions are typically provided within two or three weeks and can be requested at any time.
Funding Requests
Once you’ve been deemed eligible and have enrolled in the consortium, the next step is to develop an inventory of your data circuits and telecommunications connections. We’ll help make sure you don’t miss your offsite clinics and other locations.
Connect Health Partners will use this information to prepare a streamlined RFP, if one is required. This stage of the process takes a little over a month and must be completed by April 30. In some years, federal authorities have extended this deadline into May or June.
Subsidies
After your funding request has been approved, Connect Health Partners will help you submit your invoices so that you can receive your subsidies. We’ll also help you respond to any questions from the FCC or its contractors.