Congressman Bentz Shares How This Year’s $197 MILLION Federal Investment in Oregon Rural Healthcare Is Being Spent
WASHINGTON, D.C.– Congress, last July, included, in the “Working Families Tax Cut Act” (WFTC), fifty billion dollars for “Rural Health Care Transformation”. This fifty billion dollar sum will be distributed over a five year period, to the states, beginning this year. The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) is responsible for determining the means of distribution. Oregon’s 2026 share, $197 million dollars, has just been allocated by the OHA for ultimate use by rural healthcare providers.
Congressman Cliff Bentz (OR-02) and his team worked closely with the White House, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Oregon healthcare providers, and Oregon clinicians to secure inclusion of the $50 billion dollars in the WFTC and the 2026 allocation of $197 million dollars to Oregon for use by rural healthcare providers.
This year, OHA has divided the $197 million as follows: $45 million (in non-competitive grants) to eligible rural hospitals and clinics; $5 million to public health authorities, $6.5 million for 12 immediate impact awards, $20 million for grant and program administration, $22 million to Oregon Tribes, and $80 million for competitive Catalyst Awards. Recipients of the awards will be held accountable by the Office of Rural Health Transformation at CMS.
This fiscal year, OHA will provide hospitals in Congressman Bentz’s district with around $965,000 each through non-competitive grants, reference above. These hospitals, along with other rural health care providers, will be eligible to apply for additional awards funding through the Catalyst Awards.
Said Congressman Bentz: “Rural communities in Oregon and across the country face increasingly difficult challenges. Remote locations, increased cost of nursing services, difficulty in recruiting and retaining professional staff, declining rates of utilization, state-imposed regulations that ignore realities of rural locations, delays in insurance reimbursement and Medicare Advantage payments, and dramatically increasing costs of medical equipment and software programs, combine to push rural healthcare facilities to the brink of insolvency. We cannot keep doing things the same way and expect these problems to disappear. I appreciate CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz willingness to work with me and other members of Congress to develop new ways (these grants for example) to address persistent rural healthcare problems. These investments will help our local hospitals and clinics find new ways to strengthen their healthcare workforce, improve access to care, drive down the time it takes to get paid, and reduce paperwork. Our goal is to use this money, as much as a billion dollars for Oregon over the next five years, to develop ways to provide better care, less costly care, closer to home, and delivered in a way that works for rural communities.”
Background:
The Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) provides federal funding to states through a cooperative agreement to strengthen and modernize rural healthcare delivery. Investments are designed to improve health outcomes, expand access to care, and support system-wide transformation of care in rural communities.
Program funding is aligned with five core goals: improving rural health outcomes through prevention and chronic disease management; strengthening sustainable access by supporting coordinated regional care networks; building and retaining the rural healthcare workforce; advancing innovative care models that improve quality and reduce costs; and expanding the use of health technology, including telehealth and secure data systems.
Under the program, eligible rural hospitals and clinics across Oregon will receive support to improve long-term sustainability, workforce recruitment and retention, care delivery innovation, and technology adoption. Eligible hospitals include rural Type A and Type B facilities, as well as federally designated Sole Community Hospitals serving populations of 40,000 or fewer. Rural health clinics (RHCs) are clinics certified by the CMS under the federal Rural Health Clinic program.
Approximately $80 million is reserved for competitive Catalyst Awards focused on priority areas such as maternal and child health, behavioral health, aging, and chronic disease management.
Impact Award payments are expected to begin later this month, with Catalyst Award recipients selected through a separate competitive process. All funded projects must meet federal requirements supporting sustainability, workforce development, and improved rural healthcare delivery.
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