In its marathon meeting Tuesday, Wyoming’s new rural health advisory panel earmarked roughly $200 million in President Trump’s Rural Health Transformation funds to a range of applicants hoping to bolster the state’s fragile healthcare system.  Recipients ranged from hospitals to EMS provi ders, as well as maternal healthcare and workforce development organizations.  It was a big push, but alacrity has been a theme running through the process since the federal government launched the program in September. A tight schedule of deadlines has necessitated haste.  “We know that this has been a rapid process,” Wyoming Department of Health Deputy Director Franz Fuchs told the committee. But, he stressed, it’s important. “We want to use this as an opportunity to make the best decisions with these funds for the state of Wyoming.”  Entities seeking federal money had a month to submit applications to the state. They were due by Aug. 3.  That means the advisory committee — which consists of state lawmakers, local elected officials, doctors and health officers — had just over a week to sift through proposals.  Health department staff eased the process with a series of funding recommendations based on application scores. The committee also approved several awards conditionally as long as applicants meet criteria such as program sustainability.  The state is required to finalize which entities to fund by the end of October.   Gov. Mark Gordon encouraged the committee to stick to initiatives tailored to the practical circumstances of life in Wyoming — which may not match up to “the sort of nice talking points on a federal level.” The plan Wyoming has put together to secure the funds, Gordon said, “is probably one of the most remarkable opportunities to kind of set the course correctly for Wyoming.”  Thinking big  The Rural Health Transformation Program was created by President Donald Trump’s 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The program is designed to funnel $50 billion to states over five years to stabilize and strengthen rural hospitals and providers. It aims to offset some of the federal healthcare dollars cut by the same legislation. The application process for states unfolded in about two months last fall. Wyoming Department of Health gathered input via stakeholder conferences, public meetings and an online survey. Using that input, department staff drew up a state application.  The document identified four main areas for Wyoming improvements: access to emergency medical care, rural workforce supply, health technology transformation and “Make Wyoming Healthy Again.” Specific initiatives it proposed include forging cooperative agreements for EMS agencies to work on a regional basis and funding educational awards related to clinical tracks for healthcare providers.  Large swaths of Wyoming have 911 response times that exceed 30 minutes. (Wyoming Department of Health) When federal administrators with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved Wyoming’s application in December, Wyoming received $5 million more than it requested — the second-largest award per capita, behind Alaska. However, the state ultimately removed two core proposals from its original application. One was a so-called perpetuity. The system of investments that could generate revenue for Wyoming healthcare programs indefinitely did not pass muster with federal administrators. The state also ditched a state-operated public catastrophic insurance plan after legislators frowned on the idea. Despite that, healthcare providers and advocates celebrated the opportunity to inject millions into programs that could bolster rural hospitals, workforce and preventative health measures. Wyoming opened applications in July to entities including hospitals, clinics, telehealth platforms, transportation coordinators and fiscal agents. The specifics Wyoming passed a law this spring outlining how to spend the Rural Health Transformation Program money. Among other things, it created an advisory committee.  That committee met Tuesday. Members represent various facets of Wyoming’s healthcare landscape, from Cheyenne Healthworks CEO Tracy Brosius to Carbon County Commissioner Sue Jones, Teton County Health Department Director Travis Riddell and Wyoming Hospital Association President Eric Boley. Several state lawmakers also sit on the panel.  The committee had an “aggressive” agenda to keep up with the “aggressive” timeline, Wyoming Department of Health Director Stefan Johansson said.  “We owe the federal government a report, basically a progress report, by the end of August,” he said, “which indicates to them where we are on these initiatives in terms of going from inception to implementation.” The committee reviewed the applications by category.  Much of the funding it approved was for a critical access hospitals initiative. Because hospitals under this designation are reimbursed by Medicare based on actual costs, it helps them remain financially viable.  A man leaves the patient entrance of Ivinson Memorial Hospital in Laramie in March 2020 (Andrew Graham/WyoFile) The committee approved more than $41 million in funding under this category. This represents a significant infusion of money for Wyoming facilities, including $3 million for Memorial Hospital of Converse County, $3.75 million for Sheridan Memorial Hospital and $1.75 million for Hot Springs County Hospital District.  “We want to make sure that when we make these investments, that the hospital is building a business model that is sustainable for the future,” Fuchs said.  Three hospitals were denied funding under this initiative because, among other reasons, they applied late. They were Platte County Hospital, Washakie Medical Center and Torrington Community Hospital, which are all owned by Banner Health.  Under the initiative, the committee also approved funding to allow hospitals to maintain what are known as “swing beds.” The beds allow facilities to keep long-term patients, alleviating local nursing facility shortages and travel barriers.  For the EMS regionalization initiative, the panel approved $2.2 million for Laramie Fire Department and city of Laramie, $2.2 million for Crook County Medical Services District and $1.7 million for Campbell County Health Emergency Medical Service, among other awards.  The committee approved $18 million for graduate medical education programs, with money going to facilities like the University of Utah and University of Wyoming, with the latter contingent on a five-year service commitment.  The committee also approved more than $30 million for to pay an entity to administer workforce education support to individuals.  After members had gone through each category and assigned spending — including several conditional approvals — $17 million remained. Committee members agreed to split the funds, directing the health department to contract with one or more fiscal agents to develop grants to promote EMS sustainability and labor and delivery. “There’s a lot of critical issues facing Wyoming, but I don’t know that there’s a larger one than standing up our EMS when we have the opportunity to do it,” said committee chairman Heath Steel, executive vice-president of Volunteers of America of the Northern Rockies.  Sonographer Tommi Taylor performs an ultrasound on a patient at Casper Obstetrical Gynecological Associates in July 2026. (Katie Klingsporn/WyoFile) Boley with the Hospital Association added that maternity deserts “are a huge issue in our state.” He also said Wyoming hospitals and healthcare facilities are “in desperate need” of capital construction, which the federal agency restricts under the program.  “I think we need [Centers for Medicare Medicaid Services] to get realistic with their definition of how the funding can be used,” Boley said. “We have a lot of 70-year-old buildings in our state that are falling apart around the patient’s ears, and if we want to transform healthcare, if we want to be prepared for the future, we need to bring those facilities up” to date. The post Rural health panel divvies $205M in federal funds for Wyoming healthcare appeared first on WyoFile . ...read more read less