The Trump Administration announced a $169.6 million federal investment to expand healthcare access in rural Colorado through the Rural Health Transformation Program, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The funding will support 91 grantees and approximately 250 projects working to improve care across the state.
Projects will expand telemedicine in intensive care units and inpatient settings, remote patient monitoring, and mobile clinics, the agency said. The investment will also strengthen behavioral health services, substance use disorder treatment, maternal and pediatric care, and emergency medical services. One initiative will train rural EMS providers to provide whole-blood transfusions before patients reach the hospital, expanding access across a network reaching 39 Colorado counties.
The funding comes from the Working Families Tax Cuts Act, which Congress passed and President Trump signed into law last year. According to the administration, the Rural Health Transformation Program represents the largest investment in rural healthcare in U.S. history, with $50 billion allocated across all states. "We are putting resources directly into rural communities to strengthen the health workforce, modernize infrastructure, expand access, and bring care closer to home," HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a statement.
Colorado's Rural Health Transformation Program strategy will also focus on building the rural healthcare workforce through recruitment and training, modernizing electronic health records and shared technology platforms, and strengthening regional partnerships between rural hospitals, health centers, and community organizations, the agency said.