Happy Tuesday, Beacon readers. Officials withMontana’s Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS) announced yesterday that they are seeking input from health care providers and relevant stakeholders on the state’s application for the new federal Rural Health Transformation Program.
Tucked inside the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the $50 billion program is designed to help rural healthcare systems recruit physicians and fill gaps in preventative and other kinds of care.
In Montana, 46% of emergency departments run without an attending physician on-site 24/7, leaving rural hospitals to work around this shortage. But the Big Beautiful Bill also creates hurdles to Medicaid and, in doing so, poses threats to rural healthcare systems. The Montana Healthcare Foundation estimates that 60% of enrollment losses would be from rural areas, and the program was put forward to mitigate those impacts. Whether the rural health fund can adequately fill the statewide gaps remains to be seen.
Half of the Rural Health Transformation Program’s funds are to be distributed at the discretion of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) – a process yet to be publicly defined. The other $25 million will be dispersed to states that have a rural health transformation plan approved, with $10 billion available annually from 2026 through 2030.
CMS must award the funds by the end of this year. DPHHS officials anticipate that the federal department will likely require states to submit applications sometime this fall.
As such, the state department is proactively gathering input on the plan through a Request for Information. The online portal encourages feedback on “possible projects, and other relevant information, including estimated project budgets, for preliminary consideration” by Aug. 22 in order to be prioritized. Participants can also email the department at [email protected] with the subject line “RHTP RFI.”
“The Rural Health Transformation Program presents a historic opportunity for our state,” DPHHS Director Charlie Brereton stated in the announcement. “We aim to leverage these funds in a meaningful, sustainable way that improves health outcomes and brings more high-quality care to our most rural communities. I encourage all Montanans to review the Request for Information and be part of this important process.”
I’m Zoë Buhrmaster, here to set you off onto the rest of today’s Daily Roundup.
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