Arkansas has received roughly $209 million to strengthen rural health through the federal Rural Health Transformation Program, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ office announced.
The RHTP was established through President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill. Arkansas will receive $208,779,396 for fiscal year 2026. The funding through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is part of a first wave of grants. Additional awards from the $50 billion total fund will be announced in future funding rounds.
“Today’s announcement shows that President Trump and his administration place a priority on improving rural health and Making America Healthy Again,” Sanders said in a statement. “Our state went above and beyond in the application process to secure an outsized portion of the funds available through the Rural Health Transformation Program because we know that Arkansas’ smaller communities deserve just as much support as any other region of our state. I’m excited to get to work quickly on Arkansas’ innovative approach to this program and deliver the care our people deserve.”
The state’s application focused on four overarching initiatives:
- Healthy Eating, Active Recreation and Transformation (HEART), a program focused on improving health outcomes and access to preventative care by creating a coordinated, community-driven approach to nutrition, physical activity, and chronic disease management.
- Promoting Access Coordination and Transformation (PACT), which integrates specialty care, preventative screenings, telehealth, and trauma-ready services into rural communities while fostering locally-driven clinically integrated networks to improve efficiency, data sharing, and regional collaboration.
- Recruitment Innovation Skills and Education for Arkansas (RISE AR), which strengthens the rural healthcare workforce through expanded physician residencies and other clinical training programs, provides incentives to recruit and retain healthcare professionals in rural Arkansas, and provides training to ensure leaders and board members of local hospitals and clinics are prepared for the transformation required in rural healthcare.
- Telehealth Health Monitoring and Response Innovation for Vital Expansion (THRIVE), which will leverage AI to provide coordinated patient records across delivery systems and fund telehealth platforms, technology-enabled monitoring for chronic diseases, such as diabetes and high blood pressure, and the modernization of emergency medical transport and services.
Funding amounts for each specific initiative will be announced at a later date. Arkansas’ application to CMS for the Rural Health Transformation Program can be downloaded here.
