Sec. 54.601  Eligibility.

    (a) Health care providers. (1) Only an entity meeting the definition 
of ``health care provider'' as defined in this section shall be eligible 
to receive supported services under this subpart.
    (2) For purposes of this subpart, a ``health care provider'' is any:
    (i) Post-secondary educational institution offering health care 
instruction, including a teaching hospital or medical school;
    (ii) Community health center or health center providing health care 
to migrants;
    (iii) Local health department or agency;
    (iv) Community mental health center;
    (v) Not-for-profit hospital;
    (vi) Rural health clinic; or
    (vii) Consortium of health care providers consisting of one or more 
entities described in paragraphs (a)(2)(i) through (a)(2)(vi) of this 
section.
    (3) Only public or non-profit health care providers shall be 
eligible to receive supported services under this subpart.
    (4) Except with regard to those services provided under Sec. 54.621, 
only a rural health care provider shall be eligible to receive supported 
services under this subpart. A ``rural health care provider'' is a 
health care provider located in a rural area, as defined in this part.
    (5) Each separate site or location of a health care provider shall 
be considered an individual health care provider for purposes of 
calculating and limiting support under this subpart.
    (b) Consortia. (1) An eligible health care provider may join a 
consortium with other eligible health care providers; with schools, 
libraries, and library consortia eligible under Subpart F; and

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with public sector (governmental) entities to order telecommunications 
services. With one exception, eligible health care providers 
participating in consortia with ineligible private sector members shall 
not be eligible for supported services under this subpart. A consortium 
may include ineligible private sector entities if such consortium is 
only receiving services at tariffed rates or at market rates from those 
providers who do not file tariffs.
    (2) For consortia, universal service support under this subpart 
shall apply only to the portion of eligible services used by an eligible 
health care provider.
    (3) Telecommunications carriers shall carefully maintain complete 
records of how they allocate the costs of shared facilities among 
consortium participants in order to charge eligible health care 
providers the correct amounts. Such records shall be available for 
public inspection.
    (4) Telecommunications carriers shall calculate and justify with 
supporting documentation the amount of support for which each member of 
a consortium is eligible.
    (c) Services. (1) Any telecommunications service of a bandwidth up 
to and including 1.544 Mbps that is the subject of a properly completed 
bona fide request by a rural health care provider shall be eligible for 
universal service support, subject to the limitations described in this 
subpart. The length of a supported telecommunications service may not 
exceed the distance between the health care provider and the point 
farthest from that provider on the jurisdictional boundary of the 
nearest large city as defined in Sec. 54.605(c).
    (2) Limited toll-free access to an Internet service provider shall 
be eligible for universal service support under Sec. 54.621.