Georgia gets $219 million to ‘transform’ rural health

The first of five annual grant awards to “transform” states’ rural health care are in, and in the first of the five awards Georgia is on track to receive about three-quarters of the $1.4 billion it requested from the federal government.

Now the state Department of Community Health must start scaling back its’ plans for the funding.

All states are sharing $50 billion from the Rural Health Transformation Program passed last summer in President Donald Trump’s One Big, Beautiful Bill Act.

Georgia has been awarded $219 million for year one of the program. If Georgia continues to receive similar amounts in each of the next four years, the overall award would be about $1.1 billion.

In paring the budget, Georgia is not allowed to add new projects to the original list — nor is it allowed to eliminate projects, according to DCH officials.

The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which oversee the fund under Dr. Mehmet Oz, has not said how much future award amounts may change.

Georgia’s 96-page application detailed a long list of multimillion-dollar projects to expand telehealth, train more rural health care workers, build better buildings and more.

Georgia’s proposals included using Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite system to boost rural telehealth, expanding a newborn screening laboratory in Waycross, providing better cybersecurity for hospitals and spending $17 million on telehealth “pods.”

Another line item would automate income data access for the state’s Medicaid eligibility computer system, Gateway. It would also connect Gateway and Georgia Access, the state’s Affordable Care Act website.

The largest single line item was $175 million to bolster rural Georgia health facilities’ ability to shelter in place during disasters and severe storms.

Paring down some of those things may be easier than others.

The fund was created at the last minute to win wary Republican votes for the spending plan, which features $1 trillion in cuts to health care. GOP leaders hope the fund will create better ways for rural health services to survive and succeed despite the cuts to traditional operating funds.

“This funding will help move us forward in strengthening our rural providers while bringing cost-saving innovations to the state’s health system,” Gov. Brian Kemp said in a written statement. “I’m thankful for the Trump administration’s dedication to improving health care in America.”

DCH Commissioner Dean Burke, who oversaw Georgia’s application, said the program would “allow us to advance transformation by supporting rural residents to live longer, healthier lives with access to more effective and higher-quality health care.”

Health care leaders expressed mixed feelings, considering the massive size of the overall cuts. In addition, the grants will end at five years, but the cuts are permanent.

“Most of the direct impact” to hospitals from the new law is in its future cuts to Medicaid funding, which pays doctors and nurses and is critical to hospital operations, said Anna Adams, a lobbyist for the Georgia Hospital Association.

When it comes to the transformation fund, Adams said: “We are hopeful that some of the innovation and outcomes will help soften the impact of underlying challenges in rural health care.”