The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has awarded Ohio slightly more than $202 million as part of the Rural Health Transformation Fund.

The award was announced last week by U.S. Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio.

All 50 states received awards under the Rural Health Transformation Program, a $50 billion initiative established under President Donald Trump’s Working Families Tax Cuts initiative as part of 2025’s Big Beautiful Bill Act to strengthen and modernize health care in rural communities across the country. This year, states will receive first-year awards from CMS averaging $200 million within a range of $147 million to $281 million.

This federal investment will help states expand access to care in rural communities, strengthen the rural health workforce, modernize rural facilities and technology, and support innovative models that bring high-quality, dependable care closer to home. “More than 60 million Americans living in rural areas have the right to equal access to quality care,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. “This historic investment puts local hospitals, clinics and health workers in control of their communities’ health care. Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, rural Americans will now have affordable health care close to home, free from bureaucratic obstacles.” “Today marks an extraordinary milestone for rural health in America,” said CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz. “Thanks to Congress establishing this investment and President Trump for his leadership, states are stepping forward with bold, creative plans to expand rural access, strengthen their workforces, modernize care, and support the communities that keep our nation running. CMS is proud to partner with every state to turn their ideas into lasting improvements for rural families.”

The Rural Health Transformation Program is a national commitment to improving the health and well-being of rural communities across the country. With this funding, states will implement comprehensive strategies to improve care delivery, support providers, and advance new approaches to coordinating health care services across rural communities. Across the country, many states are planning efforts that will:

* Bring more care within reach — States will advance Make Rural America Healthy Again goals by expanding preventive, primary, maternal, and behavioral health services and creating new access points that bring care closer to home and help preserve strong local health systems. Many states are implementing evidence-based, outcomes-driven strategies — such as physical fitness and nutrition programs, food-as-medicine initiatives, and chronic disease prevention models — to address root causes of diseases and manage chronic conditions. States will also strengthen rural emergency care through improved emergency medical services (EMS) communication, treat-in-place options and coordinated transfers.

* Strengthen and sustain the rural clinical workforce — States will support clinical workforce training, residencies, recruitment and retention incentives, and new pathways that help students begin health care careers in their own communities. States are also investing in programs to train and support the existing clinical workforce and build futures close to home.

* Modernize rural health Infrastructure and technology — Investments will modernize rural facilities and equipment; strengthen cybersecurity and interoperability; and expand telehealth, remote patient monitoring, and digital tools that enable timely access to care. States are also exploring the use of technology such as AI scribes and clinical workflow improvement tools to reduce burdens on clinicians.

* Drive structural efficiency and empower community providers — States will prioritize streamlining operations, empowering providers to enhance coordination of care and resources, and building partnerships across the state with the goal of keeping care local. This includes establishing specialized hub-and-spoke models, rural regional centers of excellence, comprehensive data-sharing platforms, and rural clinically integrated networks.

* Advance innovative care models and payment reform — States will test new primary care and value-based care models, strengthen partnerships among rural and other providers, and promote regional collaboration that improves health sustainability and patient outcomes.

The Rural Health Transformation Fund was created by the Working Families Tax Cuts Act passed by Congress and signed into law by the president on July 4, 2025.

Husted fought aggressively for the creation of the fund to support Ohio’s network of rural hospitals. Continued funding for Ohio under this program will provide more than $1 billion over the next five years to support rural health care access in the state.

“Our rural health care providers are some of our communities’ literal lifeline, and having access to local care is the difference between life and death in emergency situations. This is a huge step in our mission to make Americans healthier, in addition to supporting these facilities that also commonly serve as the anchor employer in our small towns,” Husted said in a news release.

This $202 million award is the first of five expected tranches of funding from the Rural Health Transformation Fund over the next five years. Specifically, the funding builds on initiatives of Gov. DeWine and then- Lt. Governor Husted by further investing in school-based health centers to drive access to primary care for rural Ohioans. One example is the 55,000-square foot facility being built on the grounds of the Campbell City School District’s K-6 School adjacent to the region’s only STEM school, the Northeast Ohio Impact Academy, and the district’s Community Literacy Workforce and Cultural Center. The $10.5 million Campbell Health and Community Development Center is a partnership with the school district, Stark State College, the Education Service Center of Eastern Ohio, Mahoning County Green Team, and United Way of Youngstown and Mahoning Valley.

Husted sent a letter addressed to Dr. Oz with Ohio’s Congressional Delegation on Dec. 19 in support of Ohio’s application to the fund highlighting the strengths of Ohio’s application for funding based on the proposed targeted investments in the health care workforce through partnerships spanning high schools through medical schools, while also encouraging partnerships between hospitals, community health centers and family physicians.

He specifically cited Ohio’s efforts to integrate fitness in schools through the Team Tressel Fitness Challenge, which launched in 2025 at Struthers Middle School, among other locations.