Alaska targets 11-week rural health grant cycle for fall round

Rural health organizations seeking federal money this fall will file one application instead of two. The Alaska Department of Health is targeting about 11 weeks from opening to the start of awards, down from 24.

The Rural Health Transformation Program is part of a $50 billion federal initiative created by H.R. 1 to improve rural health care nationwide. Alaska received about $272 million in first-year funding from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Betsy Wood, director of the Office of Health Savings, outlined the timeline Friday. The department is targeting a late September or early October opening but has not set a firm date. The application will stay open about four weeks, followed by roughly four weeks of review. "This means we're targeting about 11 weeks from application opening to awards beginning, compared to the 24 weeks that we've been working on under this first cycle," Wood said. In year 1, applicants filed a four-week letter of interest, waited through review, then had three weeks to write a full application.

The first cycle's letter of interest portal opened Feb. 17 and closed March 11, drawing nearly 1,800 submissions against a first-year award of $272.2 million. Awards began Aug. 7 and reached $207 million across 217 projects as of Sept. 4. The first-year budget period ends Oct. 30, 2026.

Commissioner Heidi Hedberg said the volume was partly the state's own doing. "We cast a really broad net and there was a large response," she said. Reviewing the letters and applications took longer as a result.

The fall round prioritizes three focus areas but keeps an open call under all six of the program's initiatives. "There are focus areas that we want to elevate in year 2, and this is specific to the fall cycle around Pay for Readiness, care coordination, and EMS," Hedberg said. Facility and renovation requests move to the spring cycle because CMS caps that category. Awardees needing multiyear funding must reapply in the spring 2027 cycle.

Organizations may submit up to five applications per round. Planning-pathway projects under $250,000 get a shortened form. Two cycles will run each year on a calendar published in advance.

At the RHTP Advisory Council's Aug. 17 meeting, council member Monique Martin said the back-and-forth with CMS risks discouraging smaller rural applicants.

A year 2 kickoff is set for Sept. 23 in Anchorage, with a virtual option.