Feds Designate $110M in Rescue Plan Grants for Rural Health, Including Telehealth

The money is being issued by the US Department of Agriculture to 208 healthcare organizations in 43 states and Guam to improve rural health outreach and programs.

The Biden Administration has designated $110 million in American Rescue Plan funding to allow rural healthcare providers in 43 states and Guam expand their footprint through telehealth and other platforms.

Some 208 rural healthcare organizations will receive grants through the Emergency Rural Health Care Grants Program. The money will be used to help rural hospitals and healthcare providers implement telehealth and nutrition assistance programs, increase staffing to administer COVID-19 vaccines and testing, build or renovate facilities, and purchase medical supplies.

For example, New Hampshire-based Families Flourish Northeast is getting a $1 million grant to renovate a residential treatment center that has seen an increasing number of mothers with substance abuse issues during the pandemic. And in Minnesota, Kittson Memorial Hospital will use a $51,700 grant to upgrade the clinic exam room and nurse's station and add an isolation room for patients with infectious illnesses or those who are susceptible to infections.

Some $9 million of that funding will go toward 12 rural healthcare organizations to help almost 200,000 people living in designated energy communities, which are areas with high concentrations of coal-dependent jobs, as the nation seeks to transition to clean energy.

“Access to modern and sustainable healthcare infrastructure is critical to the health, well-being and prosperity for the millions of people who live in rural and Tribal communities,” Xochitl Torres Small, the US Department of Agriculture's undersecretary for rural development, said in a press release. “That’s why the Biden-Harris Administration remains committed to making sure that people who need it most, no matter where they live, have access to high-quality and reliable health care services like urgent care, primary care and dental care."