§  54.607   Eligible recipients.

   (a) Rural health care provider site—individual and consortium. Under
   the Healthcare Connect Fund Program, an eligible rural health care
   provider may receive universal service support by applying individually
   or through a consortium. For purposes of the Healthcare Connect Fund
   Program, a “consortium” is a group of two or more health care provider
   sites that request support through a single application. Consortia may
   include health care providers who are not eligible for support under
   the Healthcare Connect Fund Program, but such health care providers
   cannot receive support for their expenses and must participate pursuant
   to the cost allocation guidelines in § 54.617(d).

   (b) Limitation on participation of non-rural health care provider sites
   in a consortium. An eligible non-rural health care provider site may
   receive universal service support only as part of a consortium that
   includes more than 50 percent eligible rural health care provider
   sites. The majority-rural consortia percentage requirement will
   increase by 5 percent for the following funding year (up to a maximum
   of 75 percent) if the Commission must prioritize funding for a given
   year because Rural Health Care Program demand exceeds the funding cap.

   (c) Limitation on large non-rural hospitals. Each eligible non-rural
   public or non-profit hospital site with 400 or more licensed patient
   beds may receive no more than $30,000 per year in Healthcare Connect
   Fund Program support for eligible recurring charges and no more than
   $70,000 in Healthcare Connect Fund Program support every five years for
   eligible nonrecurring charges, exclusive in both cases of costs shared
   by the network.