For new subscribers, peep these resources:
2026 Q2 Newsletter Activity Index: state-by state, topic-by-topic deeplinks
Q2 RFP Review / Q3 RFP Watcher: Every procurement from Q2, near-term contracting outlook, and state-by-state analysis
The 50-State RHTP Field Guide: downloadable PDF with RHT personality, program maturity, federal outlays, open procurements, engagement activity, rural geography, and contacts
In this issue:
California posts an EHR Readiness Assessment that every CalRHT EHR Modernization subrecipient is required to complete
Wisconsin closes its last two RHTP grants and its current grant funding opportunities list is now empty
Idaho posts SUD Prevention and Behavioral Health Prevention, $400,000 each and both due September 18
West Virginia adds Smart Care Catalyst and a fourth Rural Health Link solicitation, closing September 3 and 4
Alaska has now announced $160,701,975 across 161 projects, and $125,984,552 of it landed on Friday
California posts an EHR Readiness Assessment that every CalRHT EHR Modernization subrecipient is required to complete
Version 1.0, finalized 08/18/2026, added to the CalRHT funding page Friday. Thirty core questions on a 1-to-5 scale, 1 being Not Ready and 5 Optimized, plus ten optional deep-dive questions for larger organizations. It produces domain averages and an overall score: 1.0–2.0 Foundational, 2.1–3.0 Developing, 3.1–4.0 Operational, 4.1–5.0 Optimized. HCAI puts the effort at 30 to 60 minutes for a team of three to six, or one person with outside input for a solo provider, repeated annually.
From the document:
Subrecipients of the California Rural Health Transformation (CalRHT) Electronic Health Records (EHR) Modernization Grant are required to complete this assessment.
Wisconsin closes its last two RHTP grants and its current grant funding opportunities list is now empty
Coordinating Care Across Wisconsin: Innovating Healthcare Through Partnership Grants and Community Health Workers Training Providers both closed at 11:59 pm on August 21, and both came off the DHS solicitations list. That list now returns nothing — not one unawarded DHS solicitation of any kind, rural or otherwise. Wisconsin ran the deepest RHTP solicitation slate of any state this summer and has now run through all of it.
Here is what the state has put out against Year 1, at published ceilings:
Rural technology transformation, Round 1 — up to $61 million, closed. Only organizations named in Wisconsin’s CMS application were eligible; Round 2 comes in 2027.
Community health worker — $20 million in Year 1, closed August 7
Rural dental efficiency and access — $10 million, closed July 27
Care coordination — up to $10 million for a 6-month planning period, closed August 21. The full opportunity goes to planning grant recipients in February 2027, estimated $25 million.
Community Health Workers Training Providers — $600,000 in Year 1, two to four awards at $150,000 to $300,000, closed August 21
Sources of Strength Project — unpriced, closed August 5
WIG: HEART, through the Department of Workforce Development — $4.9 million in Year 1, awards of $500,000 to $10 million, closed August 17
That’s roughly $106.5 million against a first-year award of $203,670,005.21, which leaves about 48% of Wisconsin’s Year 1 never put out through a public solicitation and nothing open to apply to this morning. The RHTP page itself, last revised August 10, still shows care coordination as due August 21. Technical assistance for the next round runs through RHTP-evaluation@wisc.edu at the UW Population Health Institute.
