HELENA — Cherie Taylor says many rural health care providers in Montana have ideas on ways that new investments could help them provide better services to their patients.
“We have a lot of opportunities that we've known about; we just haven't had the funds to invest in it and make it happen,” she said.
Taylor, president of Logan Health-Cut Bank and Logan Health-Chester, says she sees the new federal Rural Health Transformation program as a way to get over some of those hurdles.
“I think we have that opportunity to develop a very specific plan that will help Montana and make a big difference,” she said.
(Watch the video for more on Montana's plan to apply for Rural Health Transformation funding.)
Earlier this year, the Republican-led U.S. Congress approved tighter rules on federal Medicaid spending – but they also set aside $50 billion for a fund to help alleviate the impacts of those changes on rural hospitals. Now, states are putting together applications for a share of that money.
Here, the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services will have the task of drawing up a plan and submitting it to federal authorities. It’s going to be a quick turnaround: DPHHS leaders told a legislative interim committee last week that they only recently received federal guidance on how the money could be used, and they’ll need to have their application completed by Nov. 5.
“We have not put pen to paper, there is no draft plan or application yet that's in motion, we're just starting that process,” DPHHS director Charlie Brereton told lawmakers.
$25 billion – half of the fund – will be divided evenly among the states that submit a qualifying plan, meaning Montana could potentially receive $500 million over five years if all states apply. The remaining $25 billion will be awarded on other criteria, including how rural a state is and the quality of their plan.
“There's a lot riding on this one-time application,” said Rebecca de Camara, exeutive director of Medicaid and health services for DPHHS.
The federal guidelines call for state plans to focus on increasing access to hospitals and other health care services in rural areas, improving health care outcomes, emphasizing prevention, prioritizing technology and creating partnerships between rural providers and other health care systems.
Speaking to lawmakers, Brereton and de Camara said their plan would seek to avoid putting money toward ongoing expenses whenever possible.
“This is one-time-only funding, and we don't want to get into this situation where we have this massive funding cliff at the end of the five years,” de Camara said.
DPHHS leaders said they already reached out to providers, residents and other stakeholders several weeks ago to start getting input on what they’d like to see included in Montana’s plan. Taylor says her organization was one of many that provided some of that input.
“They're asking those of us – boots on the ground, working with our communities day in and day out – to make that program sustainable and something that has meaningful impact, and we're really excited about that,” she said.
Taylor told MTN she’d like to see the plan include an emphasis on investing in technology, including AI, that can streamline processes like completing and analyzing medical records and putting together referrals – so employees can spend more time working directly with patients. She’s also interested in working together with educational systems to make sure people can get the degrees and certifications they need, and in finding more ways to collaborate with specialists whose services aren’t available in these rural areas.
“We're really looking forward to making rural health care thrive and not just survive, and I do believe that this is our opportunity to make that happen,” she said.
On Friday, DPHHS announced it was seeking more public input on the application. The department is hosting a public webinar and online comment session next Thursday, Oct. 2, from 3 to 5 p.m. Registration is required. If you’d like to participate, you can register here.
