Rural America deserves a healthcare system built for reality. This is not made up of urban leftovers that leave rural healthcare needs behind.
The CDC director has been banished for a vaccine policy conflict with RFK Jr.
CDC Director Susan Monales was expelled after a different vaccine policy with HHS secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Despite the high rates of chronic diseases in rural areas and urban counterparts, rural America’s healthcare infrastructure is falling apart. Since 2010, around 150 rural hospitals have been closed or renovated to other facilities, with less than four being occupied by rural hospital beds, typically significantly fewer than urban areas.
Rather than repeating past mistakes, President Donald Trump’s administration will provide unprecedented investments, restructure rural healthcare infrastructure and address the root causes of the healthcare crisis facing rural America.
Currently, a failure has been made for rural patients. Human costs are devastating. Deteriorating health outcomes, longer travel times for care, and the entire community is losing its healthcare lifeline. Throwing money in a struggling hospital surgery is like a band-aid for an artery that has been severed, putting the broken system in place.
In the Workers’ Families Tax Cuts Act, Congress created a Rural Health Change (RHT) programme to address the underlying issues that have failed rural health care. President Trump and Congressional lawmakers have left us with $50 billion of stewardship to transform $5 billion of rural healthcare delivery.
On September 15th, the state will be releasing an application that can be applied to receive these funds.
We recently previewed the guide principles for implementing the program at a bipartisan National Governors’ Association conference in Colorado. Unlike previous efforts that maintained the status quo, the programme addresses the challenges faced by rural communities: the root of sustainable access to better health outcomes.
Rural communities have different healthcare needs
Governors recommend assessing five promising core models that match the law and may match priorities.
- Sustainable partnerships are the foundation for strengthening rural healthcare facilities. This approach supports rural providers in developing innovative operating models. Build scale with other providers to better meet the needs of the communities they serve.
- Technological innovation is also part of the solution. Instead of seeing a 35-mile doctor, imagine a patient checking for symptoms on his iPhone for an hour. These types of tools reduce barriers to patient care and free up time and resources.
- The state can also launch bold initiatives aimed at improving lifestyle choices. This is the root cause of chronic diseases that drive more than half of our country’s healthcare costs. If we are serious about making rural America healthy again, physical activity, proper nutrition and prevention should be prioritized.
- RHT can also be used to tackle workforce challenges head on. It is important for healthcare workers to recruit and maintain where they are most needed, and states can consider enabling professionals like pharmacists to take on a larger role in providing care. States can also streamline statewide licensing to promote access. Without such measures, staffing shortages will continue to compromise access in too many rural communities.
- Finally, RHT can catalyze innovative care models that provide physicians and hospitals with the stability of cash flow needed to invest in the future. Not only can we treat patients when they get sick, but we can also shift incentives to reward providers to keep patients healthy, so resources can be prevented and improved health outcomes.
The governor should think big and fight for the country community
Rural America deserves a healthcare system built for reality. This is not made up of urban leftovers that leave rural healthcare needs behind.
Simply put, the Working Families Tax Reduction Act displaces Medicaid programs from the current situation that overwhelmingly benefits urban and politically connected health systems. The Chief Actuary Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services estimates that only 7% of Medicaid hospital spending (inpatients and outpatients) will reach rural hospitals.
The Rural Health Change Program represents a fundamental shift from failure to sustainability to building success, investing $50 billion to support rural providers. It gives the state the tools and flexibility to address their specific rural healthcare challenges in the long run.
The American Foundation of Exceptionalism and the backbone of rural communities have long waited for Washington to act. The program will provide structural modifications rather than temporary and will begin supporting these solutions by the beginning of 2026.
Now that the application process has been opened, I encourage the governor to have big ideas and submit bold proposals. I look forward to working with the US governor to bring rural America healthy again.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, and Dr. Mehmet Oz is the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
