Universal service funds will be available for eligible health care providers beginning on January 1, 1998. Public or non-profit health care providers located in rural areas are eligible for universal service benefits. Rural home care providers do not fall within the definition of health care providers and are not eligible for universal service support. A telecommunications carrier may not charge a rural health care provider a rate higher than the urban rate for a requested service. Access to an Internet service provider for any public or non-profit health care provider that does not have toll free access.
Many telecommunications carriers charge a per-mile fee for their services.
These mileage charges make up the bulk of the difference between the telecommunications costs of rural health care providers and those of urban health care providers. Telecommunications carriers must charge rural health care providers a rate for a supported service that is no higher than the highest tariffed or publicly available rate charged by a carrier to a commercial customer for a similar service in the state's closest city with a population of at least 50,000. Both originating and terminating telecommunications services are supported when billed to the eligible health care provider. The FCC clarified that the support mechanisms support telecommunications services, not the particular facilities over which such services are provided. Therefore, services operating within the bandwidth limitation may be carried over facilities capable of carrying services at higher bandwidths, so long as the provisions for calculating support set forth in the Order are followed.