The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on Monday released the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the Rural Health Transformation (RHT) Program . Congress authorized the RHT Program as part of H.R. 1 (the One Big Beautiful Bill Act), allocating $50 billion to states over the next five fiscal years.
NABH encourages all members to review the NOFO and work with their states to support their RHT Program application. In the NOFO, CMS states that “all 50 U.S. States are eligible, even if they do not have a large rural population or any rural hospitals. We encourage every State to focus on how this funding could benefit its rural populations and consider applying.”
The RHT Program will grant cooperative agreements directly to states with approved applications. To be eligible for program funds, states are required to involve rural stakeholders during the application and execution of the program. NABH members would fall into this category because the NOFO includes “rural hospital CEOs, primary care providers, community leaders, patients, and tribal representatives” as examples.
CMS also requires applications to identify the organizations intended to receive RHT subawards from states, also known as subrecipients.
CMS will host two webinars for program applicants and interested stakeholders:
- Friday, Sept. 19 from 3 – 4:30 p.m. ET; register here.
- Thursday, Sept. 25 from 3 – 4:30 ET; register here.
States must submit applications by Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025. CMS will only have one funding opportunity for this program and will announce awardees by Dec. 31, 2025.
