Big companies position themselves for payday from $50B federal rural health fund
Summary
Congress set aside $50 billion to improve healthcare in rural America through the Rural Health Transformation Program. This money aims to help rural health centers, but much of it appears to be going to large companies for technology upgrades rather than directly supporting local clinics and patients.Key Facts
- The Rural Health Transformation Program is part of a law that also cut nearly $1 trillion from Medicaid over ten years.
- Open Door Community Health Centers serve about 60,000 patients in rural Northern California, half of whom rely on Medicaid.
- Many states received large awards from the program, ranging from $147 million to $281 million.
- Most of the funding is planned to be spent on electronic health records, cybersecurity, and health technology upgrades.
- Large coalitions of companies are offering services to states to manage the new funds and projects.
- The program limits the amount of funding that can go directly to healthcare providers to 15% per state award.
- States must meet strict deadlines for spending and reporting or risk losing their funds.
- Some states have not yet had their budgets fully approved by federal regulators.
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