Rural Health Transformation Program

On July 4, 2025, H.R. 1 was signed into law, establishing the federal $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) to improve rural healthcare across all fifty states. The program provides federal funding from federal fiscal years 2026-2030 to improve access, quality, and sustainability of rural healthcare. The program is administered at the federal level by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).  

Rhode Island submitted an application for the Rural Health Transformation Program Grant to CMS. The application was developed through a coordinated effort within the McKee Administration led by the Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) in partnership with the Department of Health (RIDOH)’s Office of Primary Care and Rural Health and multiple state agencies, with engagement from hospitals, primary care providers, behavioral health agencies, municipal leaders, and the Narragansett Indian Tribe.  

The process also incorporated extensive public input through a statewide rural health survey, which captured the experiences and priorities of rural residents and providers, along with a series of community listening sessions held across northern and southern Rhode Island and on Block Island.  

In December 2025, CMS awarded Rhode Island over $156 million for this program.

At a high-level, Rhode Island's application seeks funding within 5 goals:

• Making Rural America Healthy Again - Improve the Health of Rural Resident: This goal focused on improving the health outcomes of Rhode Island's rural residents by targeting preventable chronic diseases, behavioral and mental health needs, substance use disorders, maternal and child health, oral health, and root causes of diseases.
• Sustainable Access - Expand Access to Comprehensive, Quality, Low-Cost Care - This includes expanding local access points for urgent, primary, behavioral, and specialty care services.
• Workforce Development - Strengthen the Rural Health Workforce. Building on existing workforce development efforts, we will strengthen and expand a robust, locally grounded rural health care workforce – ensuring that care is accessible, high-quality, and responsive to rural communities’ needs.
• Innovative Care - Accelerate Value-Based and Affordable Care Models - Through the grant, we will advance comprehensive primary care practice transformation and support hospitals and primary care practices in transitioning to value-based payment.
• Tech Innovation - Integrate Technology into Rural Practice - This includes strengthening digital and Health Information Technology (HIT) infrastructure across Rhode Island's rural health system.

Application Documents

• Project Narrative
• 1-Page Summary of the Application
• Governor Dan McKee’s Letter of Endorsement to Dr. Mehmet Oz of CMS
• Letters of Support

More Documents

• Budget Amendment Summary as of 4.2.2026
• Slide Deck: Program Overview

Stay Connected

The Rural Stakeholder Advisory Council is being established to support transparent, accountable, and community-informed implementation of Rhode Island’s Rural Health Transformation Program. Learn more about the Rural Stakeholder Advisory Council. 

Rural Health Transformation Project Procurement and Transparency 

All procurements are managed by the Rhode Island Division of Purchases. Note: Ocean State Procures^TM (“OSP”) is the State of Rhode Island’s eProcurement system currently in use for vendor registration, solicitations, and awards. 

OSP benefits for public-facing users include:

1. The Bid Board is where the public can view solicitations and award documents.
2. The Contract Board is where the public can view Master Price Agreement (MPA) contract awards and MPA user guides.

All requests for proposals will be posted on OSP, and we encourage bidders to visit their frequently asked questions page as needed, however, the rural health team is sharing this information as well in the below grid for interested parties’ convenience. This grid will change. Please check back frequently for updates. 

This project is supported by the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award totaling $156,169,931.19 with 100 percent funded by CMS/HHS. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by CMS/HHS or the U.S. government.