Maryland, Rhode Island, Oregon, North Carolina, Indiana, and Georgia publish more program details and webinar materials
Rural Health Transformation Program Daily Brief, February 27, 2026
Maryland published more detail on their initiaitives
INITIATIVE 1
Transform the Rural Health WorkforceImmediate Impact
• New apprenticeships and expanded certificate programs for community health workers, nursing assistants, peer recovery assistants
• Area Health Education Center expansions to connect rural students with hands-on experience and clinical rotations in rural areas
• Improved information technology for workforce developmentTransformation Funds
• Pipeline programs for career exploration, upskilling opportunities, and public health service corps
• Training, recruitment, and retention for physicians and advanced practice professionalsINITIATIVE 2
Promote Sustainable Access and Innovative CareImmediate Impact
• New and expanded capacity for rural primary care, specialty practices, and School-Based Health Centers
• Improved efficiency of local agency care provision
• Better-equipped trauma response
• Expand and optimize HIT connectivity
• Infrastructure to spur broader telehealth adoptionTransformation Funds
• Sustainable access via expanded healthcare capacity and integrated technology
• Mobile health in each rural region
• Provider support for adoption of value-based, innovative care
• Behavioral health expansions across the full care continuumINITIATIVE 3
Empower Rural Marylanders to Eat for HealthImmediate Impact
• Post-harvest infrastructure for small farms to supply local markets with fresh food
• Increase healthy food access through support for grocers and mobile markets in hunger “hot spots”
• Nutrition education to create demand for healthy foods
• Better regional planning and coordination for healthy food accessTransformation Funds
• Food aggregators and food hubs to increase availability of affordable, local foods
• New organizational purchasing strategies to pivot to procurement of healthy, local foods
Also: the website consists of a single image (it’s been a minute since I’ve seen that on the Internet)
Rhode Island also provided more program detail
Making Rural America Healthy Again - Improve the Health of Rural Resident: This goal focused on improving the health outcomes of Rhode Island’s rural residents by targeting preventable chronic diseases, behavioral and mental health needs, substance use disorders, maternal and child health, oral health, and root causes of diseases.
Sustainable Access - Expand Access to Comprehensive, Quality, Low-Cost Care - This includes expanding local access points for urgent, primary, behavioral, and specialty care services.
Workforce Development - Strengthen the Rural Health Workforce. Building on existing workforce development efforts, we will strengthen and expand a robust, locally grounded rural health care workforce – ensuring that care is accessible, high-quality, and responsive to rural communities’ needs
Innovative Care - Accelerate Value-Based and Affordable Care Models - Through the grant, we will advance comprehensive primary care practice transformation and support hospitals and primary care practices in transitioning to value-based payment
Tech Innovation - Integrate Technology into Rural Practice - This includes strengthening digital and HIT infrastructure across Rhode Island’s rural health system.
Oregon posts material from February 24, 2026 webinar
Note both webinars had the same information shared.
North Carolina also posted materials from February 26, 2026
Topic: NC Regional Organization and Outreach for Transformation and Sustainability (NC ROOTS) Hubs
Indiana posts bubbly graphic on programs
Georgia posted slides from their Value-Based Care webinar
