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 Federal  Communications  Commission  FCC  04-  15 
 Before  the  Federal  Communications  Commission 
 Washington,  D.  C.  20554 


 In  the  Matter  of 
 Rural  Health  Care  Support  Mechanism 
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 WC  Docket  No.  02-  60 


 ORDER  ON  RECONSIDERATION 
 Adopted:  January  14,  2004  Released:  January  16,  2004 
 By  the  Commission: 
 1.  In  this  order,  we  reconsider,  on  our  own  motion,  1  the  requirement  in  section  54.619(  a)(  4)  of  the  Commission’s  rules  that  the  Universal  Service  Administrative  Company 
 (USAC)  submit  to  the  Commission  an  annual  report  on  the  rural  health  care  program  on  the  first  business  day  in  May  of  each  year.  2  The  Commission  recently  made  a  number  of  changes  to  the 
 rural  health  care  program  to  improve  the  program’s  effectiveness.  The  Commission,  among  other  things,  expanded  the  entities  eligible  to  participate  in  the  program,  added  Internet  access  to 
 the  list  of  services  eligible  for  discounts,  and  modified  the  way  in  which  telecommunications  service  discounts  are  calculated.  3  Although  the  Commission  made  other  changes  to  section 
 54.619  in  this  recent  order,  it  made  no  changes  to  section  54.619(  a)(  4).  Section  54.702(  g)  already  requires  USAC  to  submit  an  annual  report  detailing  its  activities  and  information  for 
 each  of  the  support  mechanisms,  including  the  rural  health  care  program,  to  the  Commission  by  March  31  of  each  year.  4  We  do  not  believe  it  necessary  for  USAC  to  submit  two  separate  annual 
 reports  to  the  Commission  on  the  rural  health  care  program.  Therefore,  we  delete  section  54.619(  a)(  4)  of  our  rules.  5 


 2.  Accordingly,  IT  IS  ORDERED,  pursuant  to  sections  1-  4,  201-  202,  254,  and  405  of  the  Communications  Act  of  1934,  as  amended,  47  U.  S.  C.  §§  151-  154,  201-  202,  254,  and  405 
 and  section  1.108  of  the  Commission’s  rules,  47  C.  F.  R.  §  1.108,  this  ORDER  ON  RECONSIDERATION  is  ADOPTED. 


 1  See  47  C.  F.  R.  §  1.  108. 
 2  See  47  C.  F.  R.  §  54.  619(  a)(  4). 
 3  Rural  Health  Care  Support  Mechanism,  WC  Docket  No.  02-  60,  Report  and  Order,  Order  on  Reconsideration,  and 
 Further  Notice  of  Proposed  Rulemaking,  18  FCC  Rcd  24546  (2003).  This  order  was  published  in  the  Federal  Register  on  December  24,  2003.  See  68  Fed.  Reg.  74492  (2003). 


 4  47  C.  F.  R.  §  54.  702(  g). 
 5  See  Appendix  A. 
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 Federal  Communications  Commission  FCC  04-  15 
 3.  IT  IS  FURTHER  ORDERED  that  Part  54  of  the  Commission’s  rules,  47  C.  F.  R.  §  54.619(  a)(  4),  IS  AMENDED,  as  set  forth  in  Appendix  A  attached  hereto,  effective  thirty  (30) 
 days  after  the  publication  of  this  ORDER  ON  RECONSIDERATION  in  the  Federal  Register. 


 FEDERAL  COMMUNICATIONS  COMMISSION 
 Marlene  H.  Dortch  Secretary 
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 Federal  Communications  Commission  FCC  04-  15 
 APPENDIX  A 
 Final  Rules 


 For  the  reasons  discussed  above,  the  Federal  Communications  Commission  amends  47  C.  F.  R. 
 Part  54  as  follows: 
 PART  54  -  UNIVERSAL  SERVICE 
 1.  Amend  §  54.619  by  deleting  paragraph  (a)(  4). 
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