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Mehmet Oz, head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, framed the $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program as ābold, creative plansā led by states. But as states have started to roll out their plans, federal officials control where and how the money is spent.
A federal agency has dramatically slowed its review of visa waiver applications that allow international physicians completing U.S. training programs to stay in the country to work in underserved areas. The delay may send hundreds of doctors back to their home countries.
A rural Nebraska dialysis unit that was hemorrhaging money closed, upending patientsā lives. Thatās despite a federal rural health program that granted the state more than $200 million this year to improve health care in rural communities.
States are rolling out plans for their share of a $50 billion fund meant to improve rural health care. In some states, the money may provoke rural hospitals to cut services.
Some Republican state lawmakers and state health associations are pushing back against spending plans under the Trump administrationās $50 billion federal rural health fund. Federal administrators already approved statesā plans, but in many cases, state lawmakers must greenlight spending.
State officials believe theyāve found a way to extend the life of federal Rural Health Transformation Program money Wyoming is receiving as part of last summerās One Big Beautiful Bill Act ā by investing most of it.
Every state will receive at least $100 million annually from the federal Rural Health Transformation fund, but some scored millions more based on how the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services judged the āqualityā of their plans and willingness to pass policies embracing "Make America Healthy Again" initiatives.
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Dozens of health care organizations have asked the Trump administration to shield the doctors, nurses, and techs they need to fill shortages from the presidentās new $100,000 visa fee for skilled foreign workers. So far, thereās no sign of a reprieve.
Proposals from states that have shared their applications to a new $50 billion rural health program include using drones to deliver medication, installing refrigerators to expand access to healthy produce, and bringing telehealth to libraries, day cares, and senior centers.
Amid public forums and local cries for help, states are also talking with large health systems, technology companies, and others amid intensifying competition for shares of a $50 billion fund to improve rural health.
The health secretaryās statement doesnāt consider the impact that the Medicaid cuts advanced in the same law will have on health care in rural America.
Congressional Democrats and Republicans are at an impasse in negotiations. Which side will blink first?
Some states are enacting medical debt laws as the Trump administration pulls back federal protections. Elsewhere, industry opposition has derailed legislation.
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The Trump administration has pushed a significant amount of health costs to states, whose budgets may already be strained by declining state tax revenues, a slowdown in pandemic spending, and economic uncertainty. State and local governments now face difficult decisions.
Independent and rural hospitals are collaborating with their neighbors to shore up their finances instead of joining larger health systems to stay afloat.
Some doctors and the groups that represent them say physiciansā extensive training leads to better emergency care, and that some hospitals are trying to save money by not hiring them. They support new laws in Indiana, Virginia, and South Carolina that require physicians to be on-site 24/7.
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Native American tribes and health organizations are hosting clinics and calling patients to counteract low measles vaccination rates and limited access to health care as the disease spreads across the country.
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