DLT Applctn. Guide Part 2

2009 DLT Grant Application Guide

E. Objective Scoring Supporting Documentation

E-1. Rurality
Rurality is the term we use to describe how rural your DLT project’s service area is. We ask you to
present an estimated Rurality score in your application. A Rurality Worksheet is provided in the
Toolkit for this purpose. The Agency will review your estimate and correct it if necessary.
This category is scored on average population as described below:
• Your project must score at least 20 points to qualify for the DLT Program competition.
• Your project may obtain a higher score, up to a total of 45 points, depending on the relative
rurality of the project service area.
We use the following definitions as determined by the 2000 US Census to evaluate Rurality.
1. EXCEPTIONALLY RURAL AREA – 5,000 and under. Any area of the United States not
included within the boundary as defined by the US Census of an Urbanized Area (UA) or of an
Urban Cluster (UC) having a population in excess of 5,000 inhabitants. This includes areas within
the boundary of urban clusters of 5000 and under as well as areas that are outside of any Urbanized
Area or Urban Cluster.
2. RURAL AREA – 5,001-10,000. Any area of the United States included within the within the
boundary as defined by the US Census of an Urban Cluster having a population over 5,000 but not
in excess of 10,000 inhabitants.
3. MID-RURAL AREA – 10,001-20,000. Any area of the United States included within the
boundary as defined by the US Census of an Urban Cluster having a population over 10,000 and
not in excess of 20,000 inhabitants.
4. URBAN AREA - Over 20,000. Any area of the United States included within the boundary of an
Urbanized Area or within the boundary of an Urban Cluster in excess of 20,000 inhabitants.
Remember that the DLT program is intended to benefit rural areas (20,000 or less). The Agency
reserves the right to evaluate the benefit that flows to urban areas and reduce grant and match funds
budgeted for the benefit of urban end-users when that benefit is not necessary to benefit rural endusers or incidental to the benefit to rural end-users.
Site Location
Exceptionally Rural Area
Rural Area
Mid-Rural Area
Urban Area

43

Points
45
30
15
0

2009 DLT Grant Application Guide

The Rurality Score by Type of Project – Fixed and Variable Sites
Tips:
• As you prepare your Rurality data, if you find you are having problems finding the data, we
recommend that you repeat each step of the several examples presented below to help you
become familiar with the Census site.
• You may find that your browser blocks certain “pop-up images” from the Census site. If so,
you will need to turn off the blocker to use every feature. Internet Explorer will tell you it has
blocked a pop-up by placing a message under the toolbar in the top left corner of your screen.
Click on that message and it will allow you to turn off the blocker for this site. Other browsers
provide similar adjustments.
Most DLT projects operate at fixed sites such as schools or medical facilities. For these traditional
DLT projects, the Rurality score as described below is based on the population of the area where the
end-user sites are located.
In recent years, we have begun to receive applications from projects where the end-user sites are not
fixed. Although we can contemplate distance learning projects along this line, to date, the non-fixed
category comprises two types of telemedicine projects. In both cases, the end-user sites vary over time
with need:
Home Health Care Systems – These typically involve either the placement of medical monitoring
equipment at the home or the provision of equipment for visiting nurses so that they and the
patients they visit can interact with medical professionals located at a distant site. In this way,
medical monitoring can be performed elsewhere via telecommunications and care can be delivered
into the home via telecommunications.
Ambulance Systems – These typically involve monitoring, pre-admittance testing, and interactions
between the medical professionals in the ambulance and those in the emergency room, all
conveyed via telecommunications.
End-user sites that vary over time were not contemplated when the regulation was written. It is clearly
not a fair measure of the rural benefit of such projects to base the Rurality score entirely on the fixed
sites of such a system, such as the location of the nurse’s hospital headquarters or the facility where the
ambulance is parked when off duty. (This was the method used when these types of applications were
first submitted.) In the first place, those sites do not represent the sites where the benefit of the project
is delivered. Second, both the nurse’s headquarters and ambulance storage area are likely to be located
in the most urban community in the area regardless of the extent of their rural service territory. On the
other hand, it is not a fair method of determining rural benefit if we allow the applicant to choose its
Rurality score by selecting to include in its Rurality calculation only the rural locations in its service
area when some, or even the majority of the people it serves, are in Urban Areas. Neither can we rely
on an applicant’s assurance that it will only use the funded equipment in its rural areas. We must
operate under the assumption that from both a practical standpoint and from a medical ethics
standpoint, equipment will be used based on medical need, not customer location.
In as much as we recognize such uses of telecommunications can provide important benefits to rural
areas, we are specifying a method of determining Rurality for non-fixed site projects - a method based
on the idea that each potential end-user in the service territory is an actual end-user. This is a method
that is consistent with the intent and spirit of the regulation while providing a measure of rural benefit
that is reasonably comparable to that captured by the fixed-site method. In the discussion below, we
44

2009 DLT Grant Application Guide

will discuss two methods for determining a Rurality score based on the nature of the project, i.e, fixed
site or variable site. We have no administratively practical way to evaluate and score projects that
combine fixed and variable sites, so do not submit an application that mixes the two. If you have this
situation, you may separate the projects and submit two applications that will be evaluated and scored
independently.

Rurality Score for Projects in which all End-User Sites are Fixed
Enter each hub, hub/end-user and end-user site on the Rurality Worksheet, showing its location in
parentheses. Although pure hubs are not included in the calculation, the Agency will need this data to
recalculate the score in the event that we determine that the site should be included. Place the sites in
the same order and use the same numbering as on the Site Worksheet and NSLP Worksheet. Use
Census Urban and Rural Area population data along with the table above (it is also printed on the
Rurality Worksheet) to determine Rurality points for each site. To document the numbers, attach a
2000 Census population sheet and map for each site’s location behind the Worksheet as described
below:
The population to be used will be Census “Urban Area” data. A good place to start the process is from
the main Fact Finder Page on the Census at this website:
factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_lang=en
Imagine that you have a facility located in College Township, Pennsylvania. You can enter an address
or zip code, but since the site in this example is hypothetical, we enter College Township. This brings
up a page that shows population data for the township. This is not the population you will enter on
your Rurality Worksheet. We are using the jurisdiction as a locating tool and as an introduction to the
Census website.

Image 1
Click on “Reference Map,” which is circled in the view above. It will bring up the map below, which
shows College Township (in yellow) and adjoining jurisdictions. The applicant knows its territory and
will have a good idea before it looks at a map if it is part of a larger population center that must be
considered. Also, when you see the abbreviation UA or UC in the vicinity of your site, you can

45

2009 DLT Grant Application Guide

assume this is a question you must deal with. In this case, at least part of College Township appears to
be in the State College UA (Urbanized Area, underlined in red below).

Image 2
To make a more precise determination, we will use more powerful features of the site. Close this map
box, which will return you to the main page. Look at the left column and click on “Data Sets” and the
dropdown menu “Decennial Census.”

Image 3
The data sets of interest are circled below. The first is “reference maps.” The mapping tool found here
is much more capable than that used to obtain image 2. This tool allows zooming and precise
identification of a site’s location with respect to whether it is inside a Census Urban Area.
46

2009 DLT Grant Application Guide

Image 4
When you click on “reference maps,” it will bring up a map of the U.S. Click on “Reposition on A
street address or ZIP code.” Enter the zip code “16801” to bring up a detail map.

Image 5
When the detail map appears, click on “Change Boundaries and Features.” Remove the checks from
every item except “2000 Urban Areas,” then click the “Update” Button. If you wish, you may leave
the block checked for “2000 Place” in the “Label Column,” not the “Boundary Column. You want the
jurisdictional boundaries to disappear, but it is sometimes useful to have the place names remain.

47

2009 DLT Grant Application Guide

Image 6
This will alter the map you brought up based on the zip code so that is shows only the Census rural
area (in yellow) and the State College Urbanized Area (in pink cross hatching). You can use the
circled features to re-center and zoom until you precisely locate your site. To re-center, click on the
“hand” button, move your cursor to the location you wish to center, and drag it to the center while
holding down the left mouse button.

Image 7

48

2009 DLT Grant Application Guide

Print a Census page with a detail map like the one below. Include it in your application as
documentation for this site behind your Rurality Worksheet. Show the site’s exact location on this
map. In this case, we have entered a hypothetical location on Porter Road in the yellow area of
College Township at the top. A site located here is Census rural and would score 45 points.
If the site were inside the checkered territory, you would designate it “Urbanized Area” and you use
the State College Urbanized Area population. Do not enter the population for College Township, or
any other political jurisdiction in which the site may happen to be located. The method for
determining the State College Urbanized Area population is described below:

Image 8
Click on “Data Sets,” circled in image 8. This will return you to Image 4. Click on “Detailed Tables.”
It will bring up the screen below. First select “Urban Area” from the drop down menu under “Select a
geographic type.” Wait while the website populates the next block with every “Urbanized Area” and
Urban Cluster” in the country. Scroll down to “State College Urbanized Area,” highlight it, then click
the “add” button. When it appears under “current geography selections,” click on “next.”

49

2009 DLT Grant Application Guide

Image 9
Choose P1, P2, and any other items in which you are interested and which may prove useful for your
Needs and Benefits Section. Add them to the selection then press “show results.”

Image 10
50

2009 DLT Grant Application Guide

This will bring up the page below. Enter this population on your Rurality Worksheet, which yields a
score of zero points, and attach a copy of this page as documentation behind the Worksheet.

Image 11
If outside a place designated urban by the Census, such as in the example shown above in image 8,
print a Census Urban Area map that clearly shows the location of the site as being outside of the
checkered Urban Area using the techniques described above. In extremely rural areas with no nearby
population centers, this may require that you zoom out until the closest Census Urban Area shows on
the map. Print this map, precisely identify your site’s location, and include it as documentation behind
the Rurality Worksheet.
In some cases, there may be ambiguity about your site’s precise location. For example, if your
organization has moved recently. If there is any ambiguity, include ancillary identifying information
like printouts from Internet sites such as Mapquest or Google Maps. Sometimes local jurisdictions
produce maps that can be useful. Any end-user site for which the applicant does not provide
precise location identification and corresponding Census documentation will be evaluated as
urban (zero points).
Remember that for fixed sites, the information must be consistent throughout the application including
on the Rurality and NSLP Worksheets, the Site Worksheet attachment to the SF-424, the Executive
Summary, the Telecommunications System Plan, and the Budget. If the end-user sites are not
consistent, your application cannot be evaluated and will be returned as ineligible. (For projects
where the end-user sites are not fixed, see below.)
After you have entered all your sites and the corresponding population on the Rurality Worksheet,
calculate your estimated score by taking the average of the sites you designated as hub/end-users and
end-users. Do not include pure Hubs in the calculation. Remember that we will evaluate sites you

51

2009 DLT Grant Application Guide

designate as pure hubs to determine if they are also end-users. If we make that finding, we will
recalculate your score on that basis.
Excluded Sites - Your project may benefit urban sites (>20,000) that would not score well in the
Rurality and NSLP Categories. Remember that the DLT Grant Program is intended to benefit rural
sites. We encourage applicants not to include urban end-users in their project. Should you choose to
include urban end-users, but wish to exclude such sites from the calculations, show the excluded sites
separately on the Worksheets with a clear indication that they have been excluded from the
calculations. In such cases, all funds that benefit the excluded sites must come from other funds.
None can be included in the grant or match budget. This is true even if the funds are used for
facilities located at a Hub/End-user site that is included in the Rurality calculation. (See D-1,
Telecommunications System Plan, for detail on apportioning DLT project benefit.)
Rounding and Eligibility
Scores are rounded in the normal manner to an integer (i.e., 30.5 rounds to 31, 30.49999 rounds to
zero), but only after determining that a score meets the minimum eligibility threshold of at least 20
points. In other words, if a Rurality score is 19.65, it does not round to the minimum eligible score of
20 points.

52

2009 DLT Grant Application Guide

Example of a Fixed Site Rurality Calculation for a Project:
Springfield Hospital proposes to share teleradiology services among itself, two medical centers, and
two clinics. The hospital will be the electronic hub but it is designated a hub/end-user because patients
there will use the services of radiologists from Faryer and Fall City Medical Centers in the absence of
their own. Under the assumption that the benefit to the urban site is incidental to the benefit to the
rural sites, this example project would receive 21 points (105 ÷ 5 = 21) the average of all end-user
sites.
Remember, to be eligible to apply for a grant, the project must score at least 20 Rurality points. In this
case, Faryer, Fall City, and Middleburg are all designated Urban Clusters, but each receives a different
score based on the population of the cluster. The population for the Strinic Clinic is shown as
“<2,500” because there is no specific population associated with Census Rural areas.
Site Name (Location)

Site Type

(Same numbering and order as Site & NSLP Worksheets)

(Hub, etc.)

Census
Designation

Census
Rurality
Population Points

Urbanized
Area

56,403

Zero

Hub/EndUser

Urban Cluster

27,298

Zero

3 Fall City Medical Center (Beechwood Urban Cluster)

Hub/End-User

Urban Cluster

12,398

15

4 Middleburg Medical Center (Middleburg Urban Cluster)

End-User

Urban Cluster

2,790

45

5 Strinic Clinic (Windswept Crossroads)

End-User

Census
Rural

<2,500

45

1 Springfield Hospital (Springfield Urbanized Area)

Hub/End-User

2 Faryer Clinic (Faryer Urban Cluster)

Applicant’s Estimated Rurality Score
(Sum of Rurality Points ÷ # of End-User Sites)

53

21

Rurality Score
(For Agency Use)