{"id":60508,"date":"2025-12-31T18:57:32","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T23:57:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=60508"},"modified":"2025-12-31T18:57:37","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T23:57:37","slug":"florida-awarded-209-million-in-federal-funds-to-modernize-rural-health-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2025\/12\/31\/florida-awarded-209-million-in-federal-funds-to-modernize-rural-health-care\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida awarded $209 million in federal funds to modernize rural health care"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Wednesday that Florida has been awarded more than $209 million through the federal Rural Health Transformation Program, or RHTP, to modernize and expand healthcare access in the state\u2019s underserved communities.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" data-dominant-color=\"8c878c\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"512\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1110px) 100vw, 1110px\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/fl-flag2-768x512-1.webp?resize=768%2C512&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-60509 not-transparent\" style=\"--dominant-color: #8c878c; aspect-ratio:1.5000164360145951;width:512px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/fl-flag2-768x512-1.webp?w=768&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/fl-flag2-768x512-1.webp?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The award is part of a\u00a0$50 billion national initiative\u00a0established under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed by President Trump. The program aims to strengthen the rural healthcare delivery system by investing in workforce development, technology, and sustainable access models over the next five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cEvery family in Florida should have access to high-quality care regardless of their zip code,\u201d CEO of the Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida Justin Senior said. \u201cThese funds will improve access and care in rural communities where there is often a shortage of providers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Florida\u2019s transformation plan<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Florida\u2019s specific plan for the $209.9 million focuses on creating a \u201csustainable and responsive\u201d health system. Key initiatives include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Workforce development<\/strong>: Building a lasting pipeline through the Clinical Training Investment Opportunity, which includes supervised rural rotations and five-year service commitments from providers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Technological innovation<\/strong>: Investing in advanced telehealth services, including behavioral health telehubs, remote patient monitoring, and tele-ICU support.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Expanded mobile care<\/strong>: Funding for mobile health units and community paramedicine to bring chronic disease management and maternal care directly to residents.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Infrastructure support<\/strong>: Providing start-up funding for satellite clinics and physicians establishing new practices in rural areas.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>National context and oversight<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services, or CMS, led by Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, announced first-year allocations for all 50 states on Monday. Florida\u2019s award of $209 million is slightly above the national average of $200 million per state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under the program\u2019s structure, 50% of the total funds are distributed equally among approved states, while the remaining 50% is allocated based on a state\u2019s \u201crural profile\u201d and alignment with federal health priorities, such as nutrition education and preventive care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, or AHCA, Secretary Shevaun Harris stated the agency will soon release procurements to begin implementing these improvements. The state\u2019s plan also aligns with the \u201cLive Healthy\u201d legislative package and proposed \u201cRural Renaissance\u201d initiatives intended to bolster infrastructure across Florida\u2019s 31 rural counties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Wednesday that Florida has been awarded more than $209 million through the federal Rural Health Transformation Program, or RHTP, to modernize and expand healthcare access in&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60509,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"14","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNVwvMTJcL2ZsLWZsYWcyLTc2OHg1MTItMS53ZWJwP2ZpdD03NjglMkM1MTImc3NsPTEiLCJ0eHQiOiJGbG9yaWRhIGF3YXJkZWQgJDIwOSBtaWxsaW9uIGluIGZlZGVyYWwgZnVuZHMgdG8gbW9kZXJuaXplIHJ1cmFsIGhlYWx0aCBjYXJlIiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJoaWdod2F5IiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.i9VlapeZVE7GldkLZ51KzhMNsy77uxbqH36zDjDoHw8MQ"},"version":2,"attached_media":[{"id":60509,"url":"http:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/fl-flag2-768x512-1.webp","type":"image\/webp"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[13057],"class_list":["post-60508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-florida-awarded-209-million-in-federal-funds-to-modernize-rural-health-care"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60508"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60510,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60508\/revisions\/60510"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}