Video Clips

Quoted moments from Alaska public meetings, hearings, and press conferences.

Clips from Alaska Department of HealthClear

Mattie Dawson

“Staffing and operating capacity matter too, and the current methodologies have limited ways to account for those factors. You all know firsthand how those factors affect care in your communities, from staffing challenges and patient travel to changes in how and where services are delivered. Your experience can help us understand where the current standards capture those realities and where they may miss something important.”

Alaska Dept. of Health: Alaska Certificate of Need Modernization Project Kickoff Meeting (October 29, 2026) · Oct 30, 2026

Nicole Lebo

“we've contracted with Myers and Stauffer, uh, who has decades of a positive track record in Alaska supporting the department, as well as extensive experience, um, with other states' CON programs. Um, and then the general trajectory, uh, following this kickoff meeting from now through December will be a written survey, a listening session, followed by an analysis of those inputs, um, and all of that will result in some tailored focus groups starting in 2027. Uh, input gathered through those stakeholder engagements will eventually inform a draft of some updated methodology and review standards. Then there will be another round of input on that draft. And that will result in revised recommendations to eventually lead to a regulation package launching, launching, excuse me, sometime in, uh, state fiscal year '28.”

Alaska Dept. of Health: Alaska Certificate of Need Modernization Project Kickoff Meeting (October 29, 2026) · Oct 30, 2026

Heidi Hedberg “the things that you need to be tracking is one application. There is no LOI. It is a SMART application form.”

Alaska Dept. of Health: Alaska RHTP Year 2 Fall Funding Cycle Application Support Webinar (October 2, 2026) · Oct 9, 2026

Betsy Wood “how many applications can an organization submit in the fall cycle? And what What would you encourage organizations to keep in mind as they decide which projects to put forward?”

Alaska Dept. of Health: Alaska RHTP Year 2 Fall Funding Cycle Application Support Webinar (October 2, 2026) · Oct 9, 2026

Heidi Hedberg “There's no extra brownie points. Sorry. It is— we are looking at carving out a, a small portion of the budget for that area.”

Alaska Dept. of Health: Alaska RHTP Year 2 Fall Funding Cycle Application Support Webinar (October 2, 2026) · Oct 9, 2026

Heidi Hedberg “So the spring cycle will be much larger, and that will continue through the next cycle.”

Alaska Dept. of Health: Alaska RHTP Year 2 Fall Funding Cycle Application Support Webinar (October 2, 2026) · Oct 9, 2026

Heidi Hedberg “In the RHCP regional meetings, care coordination came up across all 10 meetings. We see that there's a lot of gaps in that area, so we are leaning into that. And across the board from the EMS councils, the EMS medical directors, EMS agencies, there are resources to stabilize”

Alaska Dept. of Health: Alaska RHTP Year 2 Fall Funding Cycle Application Support Webinar (October 2, 2026) · Oct 9, 2026

Heidi Hedberg “the technical answer is up to 5. Do not read that as submit 5.”

Alaska Dept. of Health: Alaska RHTP Year 2 Fall Funding Cycle Application Support Webinar (October 2, 2026) · Oct 9, 2026

Heidi Hedberg “I would also say that the fall cycle is going to be a much smaller pot of the total award.”

Alaska Dept. of Health: Alaska RHTP Year 2 Fall Funding Cycle Application Support Webinar (October 2, 2026) · Oct 9, 2026

Heidi Hedberg “we just got year 1 awards out the door. Awardees need time to work through that. And so we are asking that in the spring cycle, if you still need year 2 continuation, you're showing good ROI, you are on track, that spring cycle is when you would apply.”

Alaska Dept. of Health: Alaska RHTP Year 2 Fall Funding Cycle Application Support Webinar (October 2, 2026) · Oct 9, 2026

Heidi Hedberg “the application process was too long between the letters of interest to the application. That was 24 weeks. We have shrunk that down and we've removed the LOI process. So it is just going to be applications moving into year 2.”

Alaska Dept. of Health: Alaska RHTP Year 2 Fall Funding Cycle Application Support Webinar (October 2, 2026) · Oct 9, 2026

Heidi Hedberg “we have updated the evaluation framework, and this is really important for you to pay attention to so that you understand how your application is evaluated. That is open for public comment right now, and I encourage all of you to review that information.”

Alaska Dept. of Health: Alaska RHTP Year 2 Fall Funding Cycle Application Support Webinar (October 2, 2026) · Oct 9, 2026

Heidi Hedberg “if you are looking for facility or renovations, that is for the spring cycle. It is not going to be available in the fall cycle.”

Alaska Dept. of Health: Alaska RHTP Year 2 Fall Funding Cycle Application Support Webinar (October 2, 2026) · Oct 9, 2026

Heidi Hedberg “Nope, we are not capping.”

Alaska Dept. of Health: Alaska RHTP Year 2 Fall Funding Cycle Application Support Webinar (October 2, 2026) · Oct 9, 2026

Heidi Hedberg “year 2 funding priorities. As I mentioned, cast a broad net. The feedback was, what's the priority of the department?”

Alaska Dept. of Health: Alaska RHTP Year 2 Fall Funding Cycle Application Support Webinar (October 2, 2026) · Oct 9, 2026

Heidi Hedberg “we are asking that organizations submit up to 5 applications, and really what we're asking you to do is to prioritize and to be more focused in your applications.”

Alaska Dept. of Health: Alaska RHTP Year 2 Fall Funding Cycle Application Support Webinar (October 2, 2026) · Oct 9, 2026

Heidi Hedberg “You cannot submit an application at 12:01. The portal will close down at 11:59 on October 28th.”

Alaska Dept. of Health: Alaska RHTP Year 2 Fall Funding Cycle Application Support Webinar (October 2, 2026) · Oct 9, 2026

Heidi Hedberg “we posted that September 25th. It closes— public comments are due by October 9th. We are going to post that by October 14th. So I would suggest wait to submit your application.”

Alaska Dept. of Health: Alaska RHTP Year 2 Fall Funding Cycle Application Support Webinar (October 2, 2026) · Oct 9, 2026

Heidi Hedberg “that's why we're carving out a much smaller piece in the fall for those new ideas, areas that align to those focus. And the larger award to care for the facility renovations, the continuing applications, and a smaller portion for those new ideas in the spring.”

Alaska Dept. of Health: Alaska RHTP Year 2 Fall Funding Cycle Application Support Webinar (October 2, 2026) · Oct 9, 2026

Gray Jackson “we will then go into executive session to consider the award of a contract for the Department of Corrections cost driver study, the final release of 2 sunset audits, the preliminary release of 3 audits, and to receive an update on the Department of Natural Resources land conveyances”

Alaska Legislature: Joint Budget & Audit - October 7, 2026 10:00am · Oct 7, 2026

Gray Jackson “The operating budget, House Bill 263, including— included the following intent language. It is the intent of the legislature that the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee issue a request for proposals, RFP, to procure an independent third-party study to identify, evaluate, and analyze the primary cost drivers within the Department of Corrections. This action seeks to fulfill the intent of HB 263.”

Alaska Legislature: Joint Budget & Audit - October 7, 2026 10:00am · Oct 7, 2026

Gray Jackson “then the award of the contract for the Department of Corrections cost driver study is approved.”

Alaska Legislature: Joint Budget & Audit - October 7, 2026 10:00am · Oct 7, 2026

Gray Jackson “I appreciate your comments, and I agree. The contracts that we had expired before we had an opportunity to even talk about renewing them, but that's something that we can definitely look at.”

Alaska Legislature: Joint Budget & Audit - October 7, 2026 10:00am · Oct 7, 2026

Gray Jackson “We will— and we say we will certainly have another gas pipeline project on our table, so it'd be very prudent to secure a consultant. No, I just agree with both of you 100%, and as a matter of fact, we're planning on holding our next meeting in December, followed by final meeting on Monday, January 18th. But before that, we'll So we'll figure out how to, you know, get another contract on board.”

Alaska Legislature: Joint Budget & Audit - October 7, 2026 10:00am · Oct 7, 2026

Heidi Hedberg “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. You'll notice a theme. It's all about readiness.”

Alaska Dept. of Health: RHTP Funding Cycle Updates: Reflections and Next Steps with Q&A (September 11, 2026) · Sep 14, 2026

Betsy Wood “I want to highlight that there will be 2 funding cycles per year, and we'll be publishing that calendar in advance.”

Alaska Dept. of Health: RHTP Funding Cycle Updates: Reflections and Next Steps with Q&A (September 11, 2026) · Sep 14, 2026

Heidi Hedberg “if you notice that yellow box, facility and renovations will be open in the spring. CMS has a cap on that type of funding, and we wanna ensure that it's fair and equitable for all organizations”

Alaska Dept. of Health: RHTP Funding Cycle Updates: Reflections and Next Steps with Q&A (September 11, 2026) · Sep 14, 2026

Betsy Wood “altogether, 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.”

Alaska Dept. of Health: RHTP Funding Cycle Updates: Reflections and Next Steps with Q&A (September 11, 2026) · Sep 14, 2026

Betsy Wood “From the day that the letters of interest opened until we first started issuing award decisions was about 24 weeks. So while that overall cycle was really long, the time that you all had to develop your proposal was relatively short”

Alaska Dept. of Health: RHTP Funding Cycle Updates: Reflections and Next Steps with Q&A (September 11, 2026) · Sep 14, 2026

Heidi Hedberg “we also saw that there was not a lot of requests in the readiness area, um, around care coordination. And so we wanted to elevate that because we, that is an area that we really need to step into”

Alaska Dept. of Health: RHTP Funding Cycle Updates: Reflections and Next Steps with Q&A (September 11, 2026) · Sep 14, 2026

Betsy Wood “We're trying to build out improvements with less time between stages and more time to prepare the application and a shorter overall path from opening to award decision.”

Alaska Dept. of Health: RHTP Funding Cycle Updates: Reflections and Next Steps with Q&A (September 11, 2026) · Sep 14, 2026

Heidi Hedberg “That's where you saw us identify we have to have a more efficient, effective application process so that we can get into a better cycle for the fall and the spring.”

Alaska Dept. of Health: RHTP Funding Cycle Updates: Reflections and Next Steps with Q&A (September 11, 2026) · Sep 14, 2026

Heidi Hedberg “we are going to be refining those questions in the application so that we can really be, have a clear idea and capture what is the problem, what is the solution, or what are you trying to accomplish”

Alaska Dept. of Health: RHTP Funding Cycle Updates: Reflections and Next Steps with Q&A (September 11, 2026) · Sep 14, 2026

Betsy Wood “the intent right now is that we're looking at for each cycle that opens, you may submit 5 applications. That doesn't mean 5 applications over the life of the program.”

Alaska Dept. of Health: RHTP Funding Cycle Updates: Reflections and Next Steps with Q&A (September 11, 2026) · Sep 14, 2026

Betsy Wood “organizations can submit up to 5 applications. Per opening, per round. The goal is to really encourage all of you to do some front-end prioritization and submit focused proposals”

Alaska Dept. of Health: RHTP Funding Cycle Updates: Reflections and Next Steps with Q&A (September 11, 2026) · Sep 14, 2026

Betsy Wood “planning is for those earlier stage projects under $250,000, and it will have a shortened application.”

Alaska Dept. of Health: RHTP Funding Cycle Updates: Reflections and Next Steps with Q&A (September 11, 2026) · Sep 14, 2026

Betsy Wood “we are targeting that application to open in late September or early October. The application would be open for about 4 weeks, followed by roughly 4 weeks of processing and review.”

Alaska Dept. of Health: RHTP Funding Cycle Updates: Reflections and Next Steps with Q&A (September 11, 2026) · Sep 14, 2026

Betsy Wood “There'll be one application portal regardless of what type of pathway you're trying to apply for or what type of initiative your project fits under.”

Alaska Dept. of Health: RHTP Funding Cycle Updates: Reflections and Next Steps with Q&A (September 11, 2026) · Sep 14, 2026

Betsy Wood “I want to highlight that there will be one application instead of two stages. There will not be a separate letter of interest and then a second application. You will just apply one time.”

Alaska Dept. of Health: RHTP Funding Cycle Updates: Reflections and Next Steps with Q&A (September 11, 2026) · Sep 14, 2026

Betsy Wood “In year one, applicants provided information at the LOI stage, waited through a review period, which was rather lengthy, and then had 3 weeks to develop the full application. We're going to streamline that this year.”

Alaska Dept. of Health: RHTP Funding Cycle Updates: Reflections and Next Steps with Q&A (September 11, 2026) · Sep 14, 2026

Betsy Wood “We're really trying to make the next cycle easier to understand for applicants, easier to apply to, and faster to move through.”

Alaska Dept. of Health: RHTP Funding Cycle Updates: Reflections and Next Steps with Q&A (September 11, 2026) · Sep 14, 2026

Betsy Wood “planning is for those earlier stage projects under $250,000, and it will have a shortened application.”

Alaska Dept. of Health: RHTP Funding Cycle Updates: Reflections and Next Steps (September 11, 2026) · Sep 11, 2026

Heidi Hedberg “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. You'll notice a theme. It's all about readiness.”

Alaska Dept. of Health: RHTP Funding Cycle Updates: Reflections and Next Steps (September 11, 2026) · Sep 11, 2026

Betsy Wood “we have a year 2 kickoff September 23rd in Anchorage.”

Alaska Dept. of Health: RHTP Funding Cycle Updates: Reflections and Next Steps (September 11, 2026) · Sep 11, 2026

Heidi Hedberg “we need organizations to have the stabilization in these areas around pay for value, care coordination, and EMS so that they can be ready to start into some transformation efforts.”

Alaska Dept. of Health: RHTP Funding Cycle Updates: Reflections and Next Steps (September 11, 2026) · Sep 11, 2026

Betsy Wood “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.”

Alaska Dept. of Health: RHTP Funding Cycle Updates: Reflections and Next Steps (September 11, 2026) · Sep 11, 2026

Betsy Wood “rather than another 2-stage, 24-week process, this is what we're working towards... we are targeting that application to open in late September or early October. The application would be open for about 4 weeks, followed by roughly 4 weeks of processing and review.”

Alaska Dept. of Health: RHTP Funding Cycle Updates: Reflections and Next Steps (September 11, 2026) · Sep 11, 2026

Betsy Wood “organizations can submit up to 5 applications. Per opening, per round. The goal is to really encourage all of you to do some front-end prioritization and submit focused proposals”

Alaska Dept. of Health: RHTP Funding Cycle Updates: Reflections and Next Steps (September 11, 2026) · Sep 11, 2026

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