Community Corner
Rural Health Transformation Program: Latest Details
From Conversations on Health Care
A total of $10 billion of federal dollars is flowing to states right now as they seek to implement the first year of the new Rural Health Transformation Program. The early reports from the National Rural Health Association show promise and concerns.
Carrie Cochran-McClain, NRHA’s Chief Policy Officer, says, “I’ll be honest. We were hearing from members and from the public about whether these awards would be politically influenced. [The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services] moved quickly to issue a thorough funding notice and stuck closely to the criteria that were laid out.”
But the fact remains the RHTP dollars will never fill the gap caused by the federal Medicaid cuts. Instead, RHTP’s goal is to “strengthen, modernize, and sustain rural healthcare delivery.”
Cochran-McClain explains, “This money is being proposed to be used in some really important ways because we do have long-standing disparities in health outcomes and life expectancies in rural communities.”
Nearly one in five Americans lives in a rural community, yet rural hospitals and clinics continue to operate on thin margins. Hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter ask Cochran-McClain to provide an overview of how states are using the funds at this critical time.
Click now for this conversation:
