Mat-Su Regional gets $5 million in federal rural health money for a neonatal intensive care unit

Mat-Su Regional Medical Center plans to convert existing space into a Level II neonatal intensive care unit with $5 million from the state's latest round of federal rural health grants. The unit is expected to reduce the number of newborns transferred to Anchorage, according to the hospital's project summary in the Alaska Department of Health's award list. Those transfers can separate parents from their babies and force families to travel at a medically stressful time, the summary says.

The hospital's award was the largest of seven the department announced Friday, Sept. 25, totaling $6.9 million. The other six split about $1.9 million. Set Free Alaska is in line for about $479,000 for telehealth behavioral health care on the Kenai Peninsula and in Mat-Su, and Camai Community Health Center for about $351,000 to remotely monitor chronic disease patients in Bristol Bay. The City of Ketchikan is in line for $350,000 to expand mobile integrated health care and nurse practitioner services. Ptarmigan Pediatrics was picked for two awards, about $319,000 to hire a newly graduated pediatrician and about $191,000 for clinic technology. Southcentral Foundation is in line for about $210,000 for medication pick-up lockers at its Benteh Nuutah clinic in the Valley.

Five of the seven projects list the Matanuska-Susitna Borough as a service area. In its application for the federal money, the state argued that Mat-Su should count as rural, noting the borough is larger than West Virginia and has only one hospital.

The money comes from the federal Rural Health Transformation Program, a five-year, $50 billion initiative run by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Alaska's first-year share is $272.2 million, and with Friday's round the state has committed $242.6 million of it, leaving about $29.6 million. The state must obligate its full first-year allocation by Oct. 30, and the department expects to finish first-year awards in the coming weeks. First-cycle requests totaled roughly $2.5 billion.

The awards are notices of intent, not payments. Final amounts and terms still depend on budget review and a signed grant agreement.

At the Rural Health Transformation Advisory Council meeting Sept. 23, Betsy Wood, executive director of the Office of Health Savings, said Alaska differs from most states by "taking a community-based approach to the way that we're distributing the funds."

The second-year application cycle opens at 1 pm Wednesday, Sept. 30, and applications are due by 11:59 pm Wednesday, Oct. 28. This cycle has a single application stage and a limit of five applications per organization. It adds three new focus areas: readiness for pay-for-value arrangements, readiness for care coordination and emergency medical services.

The department is also taking public comment on draft evaluation frameworks until 5 pm Oct. 9 at [email protected].