STATEMENT OF
COMMISSIONER JESSICA ROSENWORCEL
Re: In the Matter of Rural Health Care Support Mechanism, WC Docket No. 02-60, 
Report and Order (December 12, 2012) 
Like some of my colleagues, I have had the chance to see the power of telemedicine up 
close and at work.  I have watched as pediatric surgeons in California share their expertise via 
video with patients many miles away.  I have seen how village clinics in rural Alaska use 
broadband to provide first-class care to patients in some of this country’s most remote 
communities.  These experiences amaze because they can challenge our traditional notions of 
health care.  They can collapse distance and time; enhance the quality of care; improve 
outcomes; and lower costs.  
Today’s Report and Order seizes this transformative power by updating our rural health
care universal service mechanism with a new Healthcare Connect Fund.  The Commission’s 
existing universal service rural health care programs have had some success, but I believe they 
are also due for a check-up.  After all, good programs do not thrive without continuous attention 
and care, and I am hopeful that today’s order will position this program for doing even more 
good in the days ahead.  
I am optimistic.  Because in critical part, today’s decision addresses three key
recommendations made by the Government Accountability Office in its 2010 assessment of the 
agency’s universal service rural health care programs.  This is important.    
First, the Commission evaluated its Pilot Program and assessed the communications 
needs of rural health care providers.  To this end, the new program encourages applications by 
consortia that include both urban and rural health care providers, fostering higher capacity 
services at lower cost.
Second, the Commission coordinated with both the Department of Health and Human 
Services and Universal Service Administrative Company in crafting the Healthcare Connect 
Fund.  In addition, we set the stage for additional coordination going forward.  The ability to 
draw regularly on experts in program administration, telemedicine, and telehealth is essential.
Third, the Commission has put in place clear performance goals and measures to ensure 
that this program will do what it is intended to do: increase broadband access for health care 
providers and support the deployment of health care networks in a cost-effective manner.  
This is good governance and good medicine.  It has my full support.  Thank you to the 
Wireline Competition Bureau for its efforts.