CMS Awards Florida $193.7M in Rural Health Transformation Funds
CMS announced Florida will receive $193.7 million from the Rural Health Transformation Program, a five-year, $50 billion initiative created under the federal reconciliation law, to fund telemedicine, remote patient monitoring, pharmacy services, diagnostic kiosks, and community paramedicine in rural areas. The award exceeds by more than $5 million what the DeSantis administration had requested. Critics, including the advocacy group Protect Our Care, call the funding a "pittance" compared to the estimated $13.5 billion or more Florida stands to lose from Medicaid cuts in the same law, including roughly $3.6 billion in reductions to the state's provider payment programs for hospitals and physicians treating low-income and disabled patients. The CMS announcement did not reference the Medicaid reductions.