Texas will receive $281,976,026 in the second year of the federal Rural Health Transformation Program, the largest award of any state, under allocations the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released Monday.
All 50 states shared $10 billion in this round. Alaska, Montana, California and Oklahoma followed Texas, Stateline reported, and New Jersey received the smallest award at about $142 million, according to MedicalDaily's review of the HHS figures.
How the money is split
Congress set up the five-year, $50 billion fund in the 2025 budget and tax law, the same law that cuts federal Medicaid spending. Half of each year's $10 billion is divided equally, giving every state $100 million. The rest depends on a state's rural population, its health care facilities and the projects in its application, among other factors.
That makes Texas's competitive share about $182 million this year, MedicalDaily calculated. The state's first-year award was about $281.3 million, so the total barely moved.
States write their own plans. Uses include chronic disease prevention, maternal and behavioral health, keeping doctors and nurses in rural areas, new payment models and technology. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said it reviewed progress reports from every state before setting this year's amounts, and that states must use the grants to build programs that can last after the fund ends.
"States have already put these resources to work bringing better care closer to home for their rural communities," CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said in a news release.
