Amid the financially-crippling COVID-19 pandemic, CenturyLink is cutting off commissions to agents on rural healthcare accounts. That’s because of a 2019 FCC order that partners say is a misinterpretation on behalf of CenturyLink that could be hugely detrimental to some agents.

Article excerpt is from CRN, read in full here.

CenturyLink told partners verbally that it will eliminate the rural healthcare commission once current contracts expire in order to comply with a 2019 Federal Communications Commission order called Order 19-78.

The FCC order — which goes into effect July 1 — seeks to prevent Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) consultants from getting paid by rural healthcare organizations to prepare USAC applications, while also being paid commissions from the service provider for recommending their services that qualify for USAC — essentially, double-dipping.

Partners counter that the agent involved in the deal serves as the sales person for connectivity, not the consultant on the back end. They say CenturyLink is misinterpreting the FCC order with unintended “disastrous” results for both agent partners and healthcare providers.

CenturyLink so far is the only carrier that confirmed to partners it will cut off commissions for these accounts.

To join in on the conversation and stay up to date on the latest efforts to protect our USAC clients from the FCC’s latest order, please join our LinkedIn Group here: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12412033/