Federal Rural Health Program Distributes Second 10 Billion Dollar Round to All 50 States

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced on November 9, 2026, that all 50 states will receive a combined 10 billion dollars in second-year grants through the Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP), bringing total program disbursements to 20 billion dollars across the initiative's first two years. The RHTP is a five-year, 50 billion dollar effort to stabilize rural hospitals, expand telehealth, recruit health care workers, and broaden access to specialty and preventive care in rural communities.

To receive second-year funding, states were required to submit annual progress reports documenting how they spent their first-year awards. CMS reviewed those reports as a factor in determining each state's allocation. The agency says every state now has implementation underway and that the second-year awards are intended to build on work already started, not restart programs from the beginning.

The RHTP covers a broad range of activities, including rural hospital stabilization, telehealth infrastructure, mobile care units, rural workforce recruitment, and specialty care expansion. Many of these services are used heavily by Medicare enrollees. Rural areas have older populations on average, and rural Medicare beneficiaries are more likely than their urban counterparts to rely on the hospitals, clinics, and providers that the RHTP is designed to support. The remaining 30 billion dollars in program awards is scheduled to be distributed across the final three years of the initiative.