State Preparing to Apply for Grant Funding to Support Rural Health Care

(Sept. 9, 2025) As we reported last week, the Department of Health (DOH) plans to apply for funding under the federal Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) approved under recently enacted federal budget bill H.R. 1. A total of $50 billion nationwide is appropriated for the RHTP ($10 billion for each federal fiscal year from 2026 through 2030). While more detail will be available once the application is released, which is expected to occur this week, the program requires states to submit a Rural Health Transformation Plan listing activities that it would fund with the grant.

Last week, DOH convened a stakeholder meeting to solicit input for developing an application, which LeadingAge NY attended along with associations representing hospitals, health centers, county health officials, behavioral health, and groups focused on rural health. We urged the State to take into account that post-acute care, long-term care (LTC), and aging services are an integral part of rural health, particularly given demographic trends that are especially stark in rural areas, and to include these considerations in the State’s plan. We specifically referenced the need for LTC-oriented infrastructure including information technology (IT)/electronic health record (EHR) funding, telehealth, transportation, support for rural Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE programs) and reopening of adult day health care (ADHC) programs, housing with services, rightsizing to meet rural consumer needs, partnerships across providers, and workforce development for positions not included in the State’s current 1115 Waiver. DOH stressed that they had been informed that provider rates would not be an acceptable use of funds and that their priority would be initiatives that could be sustained once the funding ended. The most common themes raised at the stakeholder meeting were around rural IT needs, workforce, and provider partnerships.

We thank those members who responded to our request for feedback and suggestions in advance of this meeting. We shared those with DOH and will keep members apprised of developments.

Contact: Darius Kirstein, dkirstein@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8841