Providers Warn Rural Health Fund Won't Sustain Behavioral Health Clinics
Behavioral Health Business reports that the federal Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP), which aims to distribute $50 billion into rural healthcare through 2030, just announced year-two award amounts for all 50 states, with half seeing decreases and half seeing increases compared to year one. Carenodes CEO Alex Yarijanian told BHB that grants can open rural behavioral health clinics but that ongoing operations depend on reimbursement, warning that "if clinicians aren't credentialed and contracted with Medicaid managed care plans and commercial payers, the program disappears when the money does." Ascension Recovery Services' Morgan Hension, whose organization secured $1.5 million from West Virginia's year-one award pool, called the funding a good start for addressing rural access barriers like transportation and health literacy but described the award notification and planning process as unclear and difficult to plan around. CMS can allocate $10 billion per fiscal year from 2026 through 2030, with first-year funds required to be spent by September 30, 2027, and all funds obligated by the end of fiscal year 2032.