January 16, 2026
As I mentioned on Monday, DoH officials hosted a brief Webinar this morning on the topic of New York’s Rural Health Transformation Program, to include brief discussion re: New York’s award and the ongoing negotiation process with CMS. Turns out the Webinar invitation was by ‘invitation only’ however DoH will be posting a recording of the Webinar and the slides in the near future. Below are my brief notes from the Webinar and the slides are below my notes, further down the page.
- NYS: Award $212M with Year 1 being a 10 month year.
- This Initiative is project based and will be conducted via RFP application process (to DoH) from stakeholders that want funds to expedite their proposed projects (based on the initiatives that were generally accepted by CMS). There will be a budgeted amount assigned to each of the 4 major initiatives to be RFP’d.
- NYS Rural Pop score (based on definition of rural and related factors) => 2.1M New Yorkers in ‘rural’ locations.
- Reminder: This is not a major capital or an operational grant program. No new construction or any construction projects in process can receive the funds and NYS not allowed to used for clinical services. Also, must be direct payments to providers/groups working together on a project thus there will be a need to identify a lead agency in applications.
- First cycle spending is critical because future federal allocations are based on successful application of funds in the first period. Funds can not be carried over from award period to award period and again, first period is 10 rather than 12 months.
- 170 sets of recommendations received by NYS stakeholders, to DoH including the NYS Council.
DoH Website where info will be posted as time goes on: https://www.health.ny.gov/
About 1st project:
Any organization can be a partner in the process to define how the local community will receive project funds focused on improving health functions in the community. Safety net hospitals must be included in the applications submitted by communities working together but the lead applicants for the collaboratives that are formed for this particular initiative do NOT need to be a hospital, and counties with NO hospitals are a priority in ongoing discussions at state level, to ensure inclusion.
All of the projects have a significant back and forth requirement (micro managing) with CMS throughout the stages of development of the projects.
CMS still needs to approve the specific project details for each of the 4 initiatives NYS will implement, based on ongoing negotiations with CMS, to include the budget for each of the 4 projects. Once the details are ironed out, NYS will need to go back and do a budget amendment to CMS depending on the details agreed on by the parties. General projects submitted by NYS have been accepted but still need to have very detailed discussions as to how each will be rolled out, and then the state must go through an internal procurement process, etc. Each of the 4 projects is likely to have its own project timeline.
The very good news here is that at least two of the project recommendations made by the NYS Council (with one that is a submission from CHCANYS and NYS Council) are included in the project write ups. See the slides below, including specifically the various projects generally accepted by CMS, as described by DOH, based on currently available information.
NYS Projects (see Goals and Strategies slide attached as well as additional slides – attached – with a little more detail on each area):
- Rural Community Health Integration
- Rural Roots (Workforce proposal)
- Investments in Technology in Rural Settings/Cyber Security
- Strengthening Technology (with a focus on primary care) to expand access and improve outcomes
SEE WEBINAR SLIDES BELOW. CLICK THE ARROWS (UPPER LEFT OF SLIDES) TO SCROLL THROUGH.
