How will the FCC score applicants for telehealth funding in round 2?

The FCC will use a point system to score applicants for telehealth funding in round 2. Here are the categories and how to calculate your score:

Hardest hit area - up to 15 points

• 7 points if county in which health care provider is located is a “hotspot”
• 15 points if county in which health care provider is located is a “sustained hotspot”
• Go to https://healthdata.gov/Health/COVID-19-Community-Profile-Report/gqxm-d9w9. Scroll down to “About this Dataset” and download latest .xlsx file. 
• Once in the file, click on the “Counties” tab, locate your county, and confirm if your county is a hotspot or sustained hotspot in column AG. 

Low-income area - up to 15 points

• 7 points if the poverty rate in county in which health care provider is located is equal to or greater than 13.4% but less than 17.5% OR;
• 7 points if the poverty rate in census tract in which health care provider is located is equal to or greater than 11.5% but less than 19.8% OR;
• 15 points if the poverty rate in county in which health care provider is located is equal to or greater than 17.5% OR;
• 15 points if the poverty rate in census tract in which health care provider is located is greater than 19.8%;
• Find the poverty rate for your county: https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=poverty&tid=ACSST1Y2019.S1701&hidePreview=true.  
• Click on “Geos”, choose “county”, choose state in which county is located, then choose the county in which the health care provider is located. Hit the “close” button.  Locate the row that says, “Population for whom poverty status is determined. ”The poverty rate for the county is in the “Percent below poverty level” column;
• If your county does not have a poverty rate of 17.5% or higher, you will want to check the poverty rate for your census tract or in your health care provider’s “service area.” USAC has not yet announced how the “service area” will be defined. Stay tuned for more clarification.

Round 1 unfunded applicant - 15 points

• Health care providers that participated in the FCC’s first telehealth round but did not receive funding will receive 15 points. 
• Provide filing number (application began with GRA followed by 7 numbers) or an email proving submission if filing number was not provided (for example, if application was submitted before electronic filing was available).

Tribal community- 15 points

• Health care provider must be located on tribal lands or be operated by the Indian Health Service or be otherwise affiliated with a tribe.
• Use this map: https://www.usac.org/wp-content/uploads/lifeline/documents/tribal/fcc_tribal_lands_map.pdf to determine eligibility for these points

Critical Access Hospital (CAH) - 10 points

• Here is a list of Critical Access Hospitals: https://www.flexmonitoring.org/critical-access-hospital-locations-list
• Here are the criteria for being designated as a CAH.   https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Provider-Enrollment-and-Certification/CertificationandComplianc/CAHs‍

FQHC / FQHC lookalike / disproportionate share hospital - 10 points

• Can qualify by providing Federally Qualified Health Center ID number or BHCMISID/UDS numbers.

Healthcare provider shortage area (HPSA) - up to 10 points

• Health Care Providers receive a HPSA score based on geographic area served. Here is how to determine HPSA score: https://data.hrsa.gov/tools/shortage-area
• Use the score provided in the “primary care” category.  Search by geographic area or HPSA ID.    
• If the score is between 1-12, 5 points will be awarded; if between 13-25, 10 points will be awarded.

Round 2 new applicant - 5 points

• Applicants who did not file in Round 1 receive points.  This puts applicants that won in round 1 at a further disadvantage (since applicants that filed and did not win receive 15 points). ‍

Rural county - 5 points

• Determine if a healthcare provider location qualifies as rural. Here is how: https://apps.usac.org/rhc/tools/Rural/search/search.asp
• Select state and look up status of county. 
• If only certain census tracts in the county qualify, look up your census tract by address, using the information from the 2010 census. Here is how https://geoservices.tamu.edu/Services/Geocode/Interactive/

 Contact us. We can help you apply.

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