An award of $202 million has been announced for Ohio to combat hospital closures and a lack of access to health care in rural areas. The funding was welcomed by state leaders and advocates alike, but the funds are seen as a temporary fix to a problem made worse by federal cuts.
In their competition for rural health care dollars from a new federal fund, states are seeking money to bolster emergency services, address chronic diseases, and recruit and train more doctors and nurses.
All 50 states have applied for the $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program in Republicans’ “big, beautiful” law, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Thursday.
