When talking about the Universal Service Fund, high cost support and schools and libraries funding usually get most of the attention. But there is also the Rural Health Care Fund, which distributes about $50 million per year to help rural health care providers pay for telecommunications services and Internet access.
With that in mind, Windstream wants eligible rural health care providers to know that they are an approved service provider for the Rural Healthcare Program. “As an approved service provider for USAC programs with solid experience in delivering state-of-the-art communication services to the medical industry, Windstream can help rural health care providers navigate the challenges they face in today’s changing medical world while continuing their quest for quality patient care,” said Don Perkins, Windstream vice president of business marketing in a Windstream press release.
Looks like Windstream is gearing up to capitalize on the renewed focus on healthcare, thanks in part to the healthcare reform initiative pursued by the Obama administration. Windstream has an enterprise health care microsite devoted to garnering health care related business.
It also helps that Windstream is increasingly looking to enterprise services to help alleviate the decline they see in their traditional local telephone business. They’ve spent the last year or so beefing up their enterprise presence, both through acquisition and product development. So much so, that together with broadband, enterprise services now generates about 50% of Windstream’s annual revenue.
