Ivey announces plan submitted for Rural Health Transformation Program

Gov. Kay Ivey has announced on Thursday that a plan for Alabama's role in the federal Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) has been submitted to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). 

A statement from Ivey said that the RHTP is included in the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" passed in July authorized $50 billion program that "empowers states to strengthen" rural communities. 

The program seeks to improve access to healthcare and "transform" the healthcare delivery system.

“As someone from Wilcox County, making meaningful improvements in how we deliver health care in rural Alabama is critically important to me," Ivey said. "Thanks to President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, states have an opportunity to make transformational change that will benefit citizens and communities for generations."

"Making America Healthy Again begins in rural America, and I look forward to the state and federal governments working together to improve health care across the state.”

The Alabama Rural Health Transformation Program (ARHTP) includes these initiatives: 

• Collaborative Electronic Health Record (EHR), IT and Cybersecurity Initiative
• Rural Health Initiative
• Maternal and Fetal Health Initiative
• Rural Workforce Initiative
• Cancer Digital Regionalization Initiative
• Simulation Training Initiative
• Statewide EMS Trauma and Stroke Initiative
• EMS Treat-In-Place Initiative
• Mental Health Initiative
• Community Medicine Initiative
• Rural Health Practice Initiative

“My team left no stone unturned as it gathered information to submit our plan,” Ivey said. “It is a thoughtful, strategic plan that must be coupled with state policy changes to maximize effectiveness. Once implemented, the initiatives and policy changes will make meaningful improvements to healthcare in rural Alabama. They will help fulfil President Trump’s goal to Make America Healthy Again, and I have no doubt they will help Alabamians become healthier.”