Note: it’s a light post-holiday haul from the states, so we’re adding a catalyst deep dive, which comes off a 50-state Monday board we built from every state’s own documents. We also highlight details from the RHTP Q3 2026 Quarterly Report. If you haven’t downloaded it yet, click today and get a blizzard of data.
In this issue:
North Carolina sets an October 15 webinar on NC Medicaid’s Primary Care Payment Pilot Program, a monthly per-patient payment for rural primary care
Kansas posts its Year 2 RPGP/CAP RFA Webinar deck: consortia now eligible, RPGP awards capped at $5 million, indirect at 5%
Catalyst deep dive: CMS lists eight states are building designated Catalyst Funds; we’re tracking 24 with a dedicated technology fund
See more detail in the RHTP Q3 2026 Quarterly Report, including the $0 the first annual reports tag to the Rural Tech Catalyst Fund
North Carolina sets an October 15 webinar on NC Medicaid’s Primary Care Payment Pilot Program, a monthly per-patient payment for rural primary care
From NCDHHS’s October 12 program newsletter:
NC Medicaid intends to test a new option for paying primary care providers through its managed care plans under North Carolina’s Rural Health Transformation Program.
Participating providers would receive a monthly payment for each Medicaid patient assigned in place of most fee-for-service payments.
Thursday, October 15, 12 to 1 p.m., WebEx, registration required
Covers “the pilot program’s goals, timeline, and opportunities for engagement as NC Medicaid designs the program and prepares for launch”
Open to eligible Medicaid primary care providers; eligibility terms are not published yet
The design work already has a contractor. North Carolina’s annual report, which we walked through September 28, lists Mercer at $400,000 for “strategy and design for the value-based payment model.”
The same newsletter opens an NCRHTP Workforce Partner Survey, which will feed a statewide directory the ROOTS Hubs use to find workforce partners.
Kansas posts its Year 2 RPGP/CAP RFA Webinar deck: consortia now eligible, RPGP awards capped at $5 million, indirect at 5%
We covered the two RFAs October 5: $44 million for the Regional Partnerships Grant Program and $11 million for the Transformative Capital Investment Grant Program, both due November 13 at noon Central. KDHE put the October 9 webinar slides and recording on its RHTP page overnight. The deck lists what changed from Year 1:
Provider networks and consortia are now Eligible Providers
RPGP awards go from a $2 million to $10 million range to up to $5 million
Indirect and administrative costs capped at 5%, with an itemized budget required
Sustainability is its own scored section, 15 points in both programs
CAP now allows IT investments under the Emerging Technology scope; REH conversion is still allowable
Year 1 non-awardees may resubmit with revisions
And the payment terms:
Obligation based payment: awardees will submit obligation (e.g., invoice, contract) in order to initiate payment
Groups with several projects file one application. TA office hours run Fridays 1 to 2 p.m. through November 6; questions to rhtphub@khi.org.
Catalyst deep dive: CMS says eight states are building catalyst funds; we’re tracking 24 with a dedicated technology fund
As reported by Sarah Jane Tribble of KFF Health News, (“States Bet Big on Rural Health Startups, With a Silicon Valley Twist”) CMS counts eight states creating rural health tech catalyst funds: Louisiana, Delaware, Georgia, Massachusetts, Nebraska, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia.
We read every state’s application, project narrative or NOFO and sorted all 50 by what the plan actually says.
