Idaho Gov. Little seeks to ‘make rural America healthy again,’ asks feds for $1B

Idaho is joining other states in competing for money under President Donald Trump’s administration that’s aimed to improve rural health care and asking for $1 billion in federal funding, Gov. Brad Little announced in a news release.

Under the program, called the Rural Health Transformation Program, states are eligible for up to $200 million a year to help “radically transform” health care in rural areas, according to a Thursday news release from Little’s office. Little’s office said the program aims to “make rural America healthy again,” a nod to Trump’s plan to “Make America Healthy Again,” by addressing the causes of chronic disease.

Health care in rural Idaho has long been embattled, according to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare application for the grant. The state’s rural residents with chronic conditions have a higher mortality rate than those living in urban areas, and rural parts of the state face a severe shortage of health care professionals. Many rural hospitals in the state operate in a “fragile financial position,” the department wrote.

Idaho has faced an exodus of obstetricians, in large part because of its law preventing abortions even in cases that would protect the mother’s health, the Idaho Statesman previously reported. One lawmaker also attributed the shortage of physicians in the state to low pay, lack of access to medical education and, in rural Idaho, possible professional isolation and a lack of job opportunities for physicians’ spouses.

In its application, Health and Welfare said it would focus on using technology to improve access to care in rural areas; increasing rural residents’ access to home-based and community-based care options; and ramping up training and recruitment of rural health care workers.

Little’s release also indicated support from Republican state lawmakers who lead panels that oversee budget-setting and health care legislation. The application “marks meaningful progress” toward improving patient outcomes and expanding access to care in rural Idaho, said a statement signed by Reps. Wendy Horman and John Vander Woude and Sens. Scott Grow and Julie VanOrden.

Theoretically, all 50 states could qualify for the federal funding. Some of the funding is set to be distributed evenly among all states that are approved for the grant, while other funding will be distributed based on the number of residents of the state living in rural areas and the financial health of rural hospitals in the state, among other factors.

Idaho will learn Dec. 31 how much funding it will receive, according to the release. At that point, Health and Welfare will offer competitive grants to providers, educational institutions and technology vendors.