LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Thursday that the state was distributing grants at a governor’s mansion event to improve rural health care.
The grant money came from a federal program that has previously distributed $149.3 million in the state. The Thursday grant awards were the second round of Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) grants, established through President Donald J. Trump’s One, Big, Beautiful Bill.
Nearly $150 million in First Rural Health Transformation Program grants distributed at Arkansas Capitol event
Recipients were awarded $27.4 million to 30 projects through the Healthy Eating, Active Recreation & Transformation (HEART) initiative and $27.2 million to 24 projects through the Recruitment, Innovation Skills, and Education for Arkansas (RISE AR) initiative. Together with earlier awards made through the Telehealth, Health-Monitoring, and Response Innovation for Vital Expansion (THRIVE) and Promoting Access Coordination and Transformation (PACT) priorities, the latest funding round completes distribution of the $208 million the state received this year.
The governor and the Department of Finance and Administration expect Arkansas to receive about $1 billion in RHTP funding over the next five years to bolster rural health care. The funding is expected to reach all 75 counties and support schools, rural hospitals, community health centers, faith-based organizations and nonprofits serving communities across the state.
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The governor thanked President Donald Trump, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz for their work in developing the program…