North Dakota adds two more, Georgia names Telepods winners, Missouri routes EMS money through MEMSA, Kentucky out w/ CHW certificates
California engagements and Oregon program analysis
In this issue:
California has two engagement opportunities this week
Louisiana’s application windows close; awards are next
Oregon RHTP Progress Recap
North Dakota adds two more funding opportunities
Georgia posts its Notice of Intent to Award for Point-of-Care Telepods — eight awards, ~$4.3M, winners named
Missouri routes RHTP dollars to rural EMS through MEMSA — a $6.5M Mobile Integrated Healthcare build
Kentucky opens a Community Health Worker Specialized Certificates RFA — up to $200K per certificate, due Aug. 5
North Carolina posts an (invited-only) School Health Centers expansion — applications due Aug. 12
California has two engagement opportunities this week
First CalRHT Rural Health Policy Council (RHPC) Meeting
Tuesday, July 28, 202610:00 AM (PT)
The RHPC is an advisory group comprised of rural healthcare partners and experts whose role is to provide information and advice to HCAI on the design and implementation of the California Rural Health Transformation (CalRHT) program, and general issues affecting health in rural communities.
RHPC members discuss policy questions, propose ideas, and share information about the CalRHT Program with their communities.
Taking a look at the roster on this council, tribal health is well-represented, with members from the California Rural Indian Health Board and the Indian Health Council.
There’s also deep representation from nearly every California health-adjacent agency at once — DHCS, CDPH, Covered California, CalPERS, EMSA, and the Department of Aging — alongside rural district hospitals (Tahoe Forest, Plumas) and safety-net advocates.
HCAI’s Director of California Rural Health Transformation, staffs the program. Structure is destiny.
CalRHT EHR Modernization Grant Funding Opportunity Webinar
Monday, Jul 27, 2026 02:30 PM PT
Join the California Rural Health Transformation (CalRHT) team for an informational webinar on the EHR Modernization Grant funding opportunity. This session will provide an overview of the EHR Modernization Grant Guide and Request for Application (RFA), program goals, eligibility requirements, funding expectations, and the application process.
CalRHT’s Technology and Tools initiative supports providers in a variety of needs including modernizing electronic health records, practice management, screening tools, population health systems, telehealth and eConsult platforms, optimizing interoperability, and improving revenue cycle management. The EHR Modernization Grant is the single Technology and Tools opportunity for this budget period. This grant will fund adoption and configuration of a first-time EHR or replacement of an existing EHR, establishing the foundational infrastructure rural facilities need for connected, coordinated care.
Participants will have the opportunity to learn more about the funding opportunity, key application details, and available resources to support successful submissions. Time will also be reserved for questions and answers.
Louisiana’s application windows close; awards are next
Louisiana has moved a cluster of programs from open to closed. The state’s page now shows Telehealth Infrastructure for Rural Access, Rural Health Facilities Capital Improvement, and the Rural Clinician Credit Bank as Closed, with Notices of Intent to Contract slated for late July through mid-August; the Rural Tech Catalyst Fund lists RTCF Cohort 1 awardee announcements for mid-September. Louisiana also dropped fresh Q&A for the Collaborative Provider Models Program (final, July 23) and the Rural Medicaid APM Program.
Net read: LA is exiting the solicitation phase and entering the award phase — watch for the NOIC announcements over the next few weeks.
Oregon RHTP Progress Recap
On Friday afternoon the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) sent a newsletter-style update with lots of nuggets about their approach. Here’s analysis.
Oregon has pushed $175M out the door — and nearly all of the newest money went out without a competitive RFP.
We’ve already covered the two competitive rounds — the Catalyst Awards ($80.1M in Budget Period 1, $156.2M across two periods, to 85 organizations running 103 projects) and the first wave of Immediate Impact Awards ($6.5M to 12 projects in April). What’s new in this update is the rest of the money, and it’s going out through channels that don’t look like procurement at all.
Per OHA’s July 7 announcement, the state has now awarded $175.3 million across Oregon in 2026 to date, including a fresh $97.1 million. Inside that figure are three pathways worth flagging for anyone tracking where RHTP dollars actually land.
A second wave of Immediate Impact Awards added $17 million to 33 projects — non-competitive, OHA-selected direct grants meant to move fast against Year 1 CMS metrics.
A Tribal Initiative set-aside of $21.7 million was launched for the Nine Federally Recognized Tribes of Oregon, structured around each Tribe’s individually identified needs.
And a set of Transformation Funds is flowing as direct allocations to eligible rural providers — $35 million to rural hospitals, $10 million to certified rural health clinics, and $5 million to local public health authorities — for infrastructure, essential services, and locally identified transformation work.
The strategic tell here is that most of Oregon’s newest money is not competitive. Between the direct Transformation Funds, the Tribal set-aside, and two waves of OHA-picked Immediate Impact grants, roughly $95 million was distributed without a public RFP that an outside vendor could bid into.
OHA also hosted a three-day site visit with its CMS project officers, walking them through community projects — mobile rural eye care, home-visiting for isolated older adults, early-childhood home visiting, and rural clinic expansions — a signal the state is managing closely to the Year 1 metrics CMS will use to decide future funding (the federal progress report is due end of August).
For vendors and consultants, the live opening is downstream, not in a solicitation. The Oregon Office of Rural Health has funded regional convenings — organizations can request invitations through the ORH — explicitly aimed at building the partnerships that will develop regionally identified RHTP grant applications by the end of Year 2. ORH is also planning a vendor roadshow and maintains a vendor interest form and database (the same directory that drew 352 organizations earlier this year).
OHA is careful to note it’s vendor-neutral and endorses no one on the list. The play in Oregon isn’t a bid; it’s getting into a region’s coalition now so you’re written into the Year 2 application when the next competitive dollars appear.
