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Some Republican state lawmakers and state health associations are pushing back against spending plans under the Trump administration’s $50 billion federal rural health fund. Federal administrators already approved states’ plans, but in many cases, state lawmakers must greenlight spending.
Alabama, a state with one of the nation’s highest infant mortality rates, is betting on robots to help fix its maternal care crisis. But the state’s plan for telerobotic ultrasounds in rural areas has raised doubts.
Every state will receive at least $100 million annually from the federal Rural Health Transformation fund, but some scored millions more based on how the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services judged the “quality” of their plans and willingness to pass policies embracing "Make America Healthy Again" initiatives.
There has been a steep rise in the share of people with severe mental illnesses being sent to state psychiatric hospitals on court orders after being accused of serious crimes. The shift has all but halted patients’ ability to get care before they have a catastrophic crisis.
On Idaho’s remote Fort Hall Reservation, thousands live without reliable high-speed internet, which supports health care, education, and daily life. Facing delays and wavering federal policy, Frances Goli is determined to spend more than $22 million in federal grant money before she runs out of time.
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Proposals from states that have shared their applications to a new $50 billion rural health program include using drones to deliver medication, installing refrigerators to expand access to healthy produce, and bringing telehealth to libraries, day cares, and senior centers.
Amid public forums and local cries for help, states are also talking with large health systems, technology companies, and others amid intensifying competition for shares of a $50 billion fund to improve rural health.
States are battling for their piece of $50 billion in federal rural health funding, but it’s not just hospitals vying for the money. Tech startups and policy demands are raising the stakes as Medicaid cuts loom.
President Donald Trump called the Digital Equity Act unconstitutional, racist, and illegal. Then the $2.75 billion program for rural and underserved communities to gain internet access disappeared.
North Carolina and Idaho are cutting their Medicaid programs to bridge budget gaps, raising fears that providers will stop taking patients and that hospitals will close even before the brunt of a new federal tax-and-budget law takes effect.
In this video report, InvestigateTV and KFF Health News take viewers to Alabama, Idaho, and West Virginia to explore how gaps in internet connectivity and telehealth access cause residents to live sicker and die younger on average than their peers in well-connected regions.
The workforce of a federal agency that oversees billions in grants for primary health care, HIV/AIDS, maternal and child health services, and workforce training has been slashed, sparking fears of what’s to come.
Lawmakers added a $50 billion program for rural health to President Donald Trump’s massive tax and spending package with promises it would help plug the hole left by Medicaid cuts. Rural hospital and clinic leaders worry the infusion won’t reach the right places.
A Trump administration reworking of a $42 billion broadband expansion program will trigger delays as millions of rural Americans wait for promised connections and the telehealth services they bring.
Chief rural health correspondent Sarah Jane Tribble explains how millions of rural Americans live in counties with doctor shortages and where high-speed internet connections aren’t adequate to access advanced telehealth services.
Get our weekly newsletter, The Week in Brief, featuring a roundup of our original coverage, Fridays at 2 p.m. ET.
Taxpayers — through federal infrastructure programs — have paid billions of dollars to internet companies to hook up rural Americans. Some communities have nothing to show for it, leaving medically vulnerable rural patients disconnected and without access to telehealth.
Technological gaps handicap rural hospitals as billions in federal funding to modernize infrastructure lags. The reliance on outdated technology and piecemeal systems challenge staffs and erode patient care.
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