The Trump Administration announced nearly $249 million in Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) funding for 254 healthcare projects in Alaska, completing the state's first-year funding cycle. The investments will expand access to pregnancy and postpartum care, strengthen the rural health workforce, introduce new technology to village clinics, and improve healthcare access across the state, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Specific projects include a telehealth network in Interior Alaska connecting community health aides, doulas, and lactation specialists to expand pregnancy and postpartum care access to 32 communities. Northwest Arctic villages will receive portable X-ray units for village clinics to enable community health aides to diagnose patients and coordinate with hospital providers via telehealth. Galena will launch a new program helping high school students earn certified nursing assistant credentials before graduation to build a local healthcare workforce.
In Nome and 15 nearby villages, cellular-enabled remote monitoring and daily check-ins will track patients with chronic conditions and alert care teams to intervene before manageable conditions become emergencies.
The funding is part of the broader Rural Health Transformation Program, which received $1.4 billion in federal funding over five years through the Working Families Tax Cuts Act. The program supports recruitment and training of rural healthcare workers, rural facility improvements, innovative care models, community-based preventive services, and technology modernization.