North Dakota is on the cusp of designating nearly 400 million dollars to programs that will give rural residents better access to health care. Legislators held marathon committee hearings Wednesday, January 21, and kicked off a three-day special session to consider 12 bills, including five connected to the federal Rural Health Transformation Program. North Dakota received 198.9 million dollars from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to spend this year, with another 199 million dollars expected for 2027 expenditures.
House Bill 1623 will let the North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services use that money to issue grants throughout the state by October 31. More than 50 percent of the funds are slated for helping connect rural residents to health care services closer to home. The Joint Appropriations Committee unanimously recommended the bill with an amendment allowing grant recipients to access state funds through a revolving loan program to pay for equipment or renovation while waiting for CMS to release federal dollars. Once CMS issues the funding, the state funds would be repaid.
President Donald Trump authorized 50 billion dollars for states to spend on rural health initiatives over the next five years, with each state guaranteed 100 million dollars annually. North Dakota’s share was 250 dollars per resident, compared to 33 dollars per Minnesota resident, 205 dollars per Montana and South Dakota residents. Minnesota received 193 million dollars for 2026, while Montana and South Dakota received 233.5 million and 189.5 million dollars respectively. The state wants to double its grant over five years from 500 million to 1 billion dollars. About 17 percent of funding will go to connecting technology and data for rural health initiatives, 16 percent to recruiting and retaining health care workforce, and almost 9 percent on “making North Dakota healthy again.”
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://www.inforum.com/news/north-dakota/north-dakota-legislators-begin-work-of-spending-nearly-400m-for-rural-health-care