Valued Voice

Last week, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) announced it had invited the leaders of eligible organizations with one or more Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) to apply for the first of two rounds of rural health technology grants funded through the Rural Health Transformation Program.

The first round of grants from the Rural Technology Transformation Fund will be awarded over three years to eligible organizations with one or more RHCs and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) identified in the grant funding opportunity, according to DHS.

In 2027, eligible organizations, including hospital systems and independent hospitals, will be awarded the second round of rural health technology grant funds, along with local health departments, tribal clinics and other health care organizations.

Organizations with RHCs will receive awards totaling an estimated $28 million in the first year, with an average anticipated award of just over $1 million per organization. The amounts awarded to each organization will vary based on the total number of requests received and the scope of projects submitted, according to DHS.

Over the remaining two years of the round one rural technology grant funding opportunity, DHS will award organizations with RHCs a total of $8 million, pending approval by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

In round two, DHS will award eligible hospital organizations an estimated $48 million total over three to four years, pending approval by CMS. DHS will announce a separate funding opportunity for round two funds in 2027, along with a list of eligible organizations.

According to DHS, examples of eligible expenditures for rural health technology funds include upgrading IT systems, upgrading Electronic Health Records (EHR) systems, subscribing to data analytics or other digital tools and purchasing patient devices including continuous glucose monitors and provider devices such as ambient AI tools for notetaking.

Contact Christian Moran, WHA Senior Vice President of Finance & Payment, with questions related to the Wisconsin Rural Health Transformation Program.

To learn more about the Wisconsin Rural Health Transformation Program, click here.