Utah opens $18.5M SHIFT 3.2: Rural Health Provider Networks, due August 14
Tennessee Q&A for Health Technology & Innovation (Long-Range) reveals lots
Starting next week, we are going to be reaching out to those of you who’ve been initerested in the 50-State RHTP Field Guide and other data products. We want to har from you— what works, what you want to see next, and how we can be of greater use. Book a conversation any time.
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 hosting Workforce Development Recruitment and Retention Grant Funding Opportunity Webinar
Colorado publishes FAQ for Final Application Push and New Program Guidance
Oklahoma posts slides and videos of webinars; telegraphs regional facilitator approach
Washington widens eligibility for Rural Health Provider Technology Fund
Tennessee Q&A for Health Technology & Innovation (Long-Range) reveals lots
Utah opens $18.5M SHIFT 3.2: Rural Health Provider Networks, due August 14
West Virginia posts Workforce Catalyst Program AFA
South Dakota running two RFPs
California hosting Workforce Development Recruitment and Retention Grant Funding Opportunity Webinar
The WDRR Program is part of CalRHT's Workforce Development initiative and provides funding to eligible organizations to retain Health Professionals already practicing in rural communities, as well as to recruit eligible Health Professionals to qualifying rural sites. It is designed to attract and retain qualified Health Professionals in rural communities across the state and offers targeted financial incentives that help rural California communities recruit, retain, and sustain a stable pipeline of skilled Health Professionals. Together, these efforts aim to reduce the time needed to fill priority clinical roles, improve multi-year retention and average tenure, and strengthen community-anchored teams that deliver whole-person care close to home across California’s rural communities.
Participants will have the opportunity to learn more about the funding opportunity, key application milestones, and available resources to support successful submissions. Time will also be reserved for questions and answers.
Colorado publishes FAQ for Final Application Push and New Program Guidance
Colorado applicants are in the home stretch: the Department of Health Care Policy & Financing (HCPF) closes its RHTP Grant Program application at 11:59 p.m. on August 3, 2026. HCPF also refreshed its FAQ on July 22, and the new edition carries more than housekeeping — it clarifies how metrics work, loosens documentation rules, and confirms what you can spend money on. If you are a Lead Applicant Organization (LAO) finalizing a submission, these are the changes that matter.
One more round of office hours. HCPF added a final set of virtual office hours for last-minute LAO questions:
Thursday, July 23 — 1:00–2:00 p.m.
Monday, July 27 — 12:00–1:00 p.m.
Wednesday, July 29 — 8:00–9:00 a.m.
“Whole Person Health” metrics are now applicant-defined. For anyone applying under the Whole Person Health category, HCPF clarified that neither CMS nor the state has settled on standardized recommended metrics for this area. Applicants are explicitly encouraged to propose their own measures — ones they consider appropriate and meaningful for their specific regional projects. That’s real latitude, and a place to differentiate a proposal.
Eligibility and documentation got more flexible. Two changes open the door wider:
Governmental and county entities: special districts and county-owned organizations — including county-owned hospitals — that lack a standard Certificate of Good Standing can now submit alternative documentation, such as DOLA registration or proof of coverage under CRS Title 25, Article 3, Section 3.
Locum providers and advanced tech: locum providers are eligible for funding when they are part of a broader transformation initiative with a sustainability plan. HCPF also explicitly named AI-enabled technologies and telemetry systems as allowable expenses where they directly support clinical operations or care transformation.
Two fine-print items worth catching. Travel reimbursement follows Colorado’s approved state rate of $0.65 per mile — not the federal GSA or IRS rate — per CMS’s direction to adhere to state travel policies. And on scope: while the narrative must describe a full five-year project, the current budget template and work plan should cover only the initial 12-month budget period, with Budget Period 1 funds fully expended by September 30, 2027.
Templates — including the Letter of Attestation required for all collaborative partners — are on the RHTP portal; questions go to hcpf_rhtp@state.co.us.
Oklahoma posts slides and videos of webinars; telegraphs regional facilitator approach
Oklahoma — the fifth-largest RHTP award in the country at $223.5 million in Year 1 — has launched a facilitator-led approach to its 29-program, six-pillar plan through Rural Regional Reorientation (RRR). In regional virtual kickoffs on July 21, the state introduced a dedicated facilitator for each rural region: Ann Paul (Northeast), Clark Houser (Northwest & North-Central), Tamara Clift (Southwest & Central), Richard Gillespie (South-Central), and Melanie McGee (East-Central & Southeast).
The forward signal for vendors and partners: RRR’s Year-1 pool was up to $20 million (up to $4 million per award); the Year-2 round rises to up to $35 million per year, and partnerships become mandatory — in Year 1 they earned bonus points but weren’t required. The state expects to open that competitive NOFO around February 2027 and close it in March, with applications required to map to region-specific “objective plans” the facilitators are assembling now. Year-1 awards are due to be announced late July or early August.
Oklahoma is taking the model on the road: 16 in-person county-cluster kickoffs run July 27–August 14, from High Plains Technology Center in Woodward to a Texas County stop in Guymon. Those in-person sessions aren’t recorded, but every virtual kickoff is posted — slides and video — to the state RHTP site.
Washington widens eligibility for Rural Health Provider Technology Fund
Washington issued Amendment 1 to RFA 2026HCA12, the Provider Technology Fund. The change is narrow but meaningful: it expands who counts as an eligible applicant.
The amended list now explicitly names rural health clinics, FQHCs, hospitals and hospital systems, behavioral health and dental providers, EMS organizations, federally recognized Tribes, community-based and social-service organizations, professional associations and advocacy nonprofits, coordinated care organizations, and educational service and school districts. Every other term — deadline, funding, scope — is unchanged.
This fund is designed to support rural providers in adopting technology and data solutions that improve operational efficiency, expand telehealth access, and enhance patient monitoring.
Available Funding: For the first budget period, HCA has allocated $11.5 million in total awards. Individual organizations may apply for grant amounts ranging from $200,000 to $500,000.
Eligibility: To qualify, applicants must be licensed to do business in Washington and have a physical location in the state or provide direct health care services there. Eligible entities include rural health clinics, FQHCs, behavioral health clinics, dental providers, EMS organizations, and Tribal health systems that serve Washington’s rural health clients.
Program Scope: The funding supports up-front costs for purchasing and licensing new technology, including AI tools for administrative workflows (such as automated charting and scheduling), telehealth expansion for specialty care, and consumer-facing wearables or home diagnostic kits for remote patient monitoring.
Tennessee Q&A for Health Technology & Innovation (Long-Range) reveals lots
(via email)
Tennessee posted a 156-questioj Q&A on its $59,380,009 Health Technology & Innovation (Long-Range) RFA — the single biggest pool in Tennessee’s Healthcare Resiliency Program.
The document showed that the field circling this money runs well beyond rural hospitals. In the Q&A you can see a telehealth “clinic-in-a-box” kiosk vendor sizing a $1.8–3.6M deployment, a behavioral-health software platform asking whether it can apply directly, a physician-owned imaging practice proposing a PET-CT line, a value-based-care enablement company wanting to lead through provider partners, and vendors pitching AI companions, remote monitoring with risk-stratification analytics, and medical-translation tech. This is a technology land grab, and the applicants are as much vendors as providers.
Three answers reshape who can win:
For-profit vendors can be the lead applicant — not just a subcontractor behind a hospital (Q13, Q139: a flat “Yes”). The only hard gate is Tennessee Secretary-of-State registration.
You don’t have to buy hardware. TDH repeatedly confirmed that assessments, workflow optimization, change management, and a “roadmap of recommended technology and interoperability improvements” are fundable as the primary deliverable (Q130–138) — an open door for consulting and advisory firms.
But there’s a capital wall. Asked twice whether it would offer advance or expedited payment so smaller players don’t have to front millions and wait, TDH said no — cost-reimbursement only, bar a small start-up advance (Q88–89). That single answer tells you who realistically competes: the well-capitalized.
Fine print worth knowing: the State owns all IP developed under the grant (Q33), a $225,700 salary cap applies (Q145), EMR replacement is capped at 5% of the state’s RHT funds (Q36), and you may run parallel short- and long-range applications scored by the same panel (Q106). Applications are due August 3 — unchanged.
