Alaska has five weeks to commit $33 million in federal rural health money

Alaska has about $33 million in federal rural health money left to hand out and five weeks to do it.

The state has announced $239 million in awards to 244 projects out of a $272.2 million first-year total, a program official told the Rural Health Transformation Program Advisory Council on Wednesday. Those figures are still projected rather than final while staff work through budget revisions with applicants.

Everything has to be allocated by Oct. 30. "CMS has been very firm that there are no extensions to the dates. There's no wiggle room," said Betsy Wood, executive director of the state's Office of Health Savings. After that the state has until September 2027 to draw the money down, and the organizations receiving it have to finish their work by June 30, 2027.

What Alaska does not spend, another state gets. Under the program's funding notice, money left unspent at the end of the next fiscal year is redistributed, and money earmarked but not actually paid out does not count as spent.

Deputy Commissioner Emily Ricci, who chairs the council, said the June 2027 end date for grantees exists because the department owes federal officials a report by the end of August, which they weigh before setting the next year's award. "We recognize that award period is shorter than we'd like," she said.

Alaska began issuing rolling awards on Aug. 7 under the Rural Health Transformation Program, a five-year, $50 billion federal initiative. Health care access has taken the largest share of first-year money, followed by technology and innovation, with about $30 million going to pay-for-value work, which pays providers on results rather than volume.