Promoting Telehealth in Rural America

Document Headings Document headings vary by document type but may contain the following: the agency or agencies that issued and signed a document the number of the CFR title and the number of each part the document amends, proposes to amend, or is directly related to the agency docket number / agency internal file number the RIN which identifies each regulatory action listed in the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions See the Document Drafting Handbook for more details. Federal Communications Commission 47 CFR Part 54 [WC Docket No. 17-310; FCC No. 26-54; FR ID 364116] AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission. ACTION: Proposed rule. SUMMARY: In this document, the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) seeks comments on the scope of the similar service and rural area comparability requirements, comments on possible improvements to, or replacements of, our existing cost study method of determining rural telecommunications rates, comments on possible methods of promoting the use of lower-cost technologies intended to provide backup services, comments on a proposal to establish an eligible services list for the Rural Health Care (RHC) Program, comments on whether to adopt performance metrics to expedite the processing of RHC Program funding requests, and comments on whether to eliminate the approval requirement of evergreen contracts and an annual report requirement. ( printed page 55817) DATES: Comments are due on or before September 30, 2026 and reply comments are due on or before October 30, 2026. If you anticipate that you will be submitting comments but find it difficult to do so within the period of time allowed by this document, you should advise the contact listed below as soon as possible. ADDRESSES: Pursuant to §§ 1.415 and 1.419 of the Commission's rules, 47 CFR 1.415 , 1.419 , interested parties may file comments and reply comments on or before the dates indicated in the DATES section of this document. You m…