Kansas Congressman Derek Schmidt is pleased with Congressional approval of the Rural Health Transformation Program.
Schmidt appeared on KVOE’s Morning Show on Friday. He says this represents a needed change in health care.
The Rural Health Transformation Program offers $50 billion, half of which will be distributed evenly among states who have approved applications and the other half based on criteria from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Meanwhile, Kansas Governor Laura Kelly says the state is developing an application for its share of the $50 billion program. Kelly says the state is “committed to ensuring that rural Kansans have access to high-quality, affordable health care near their homes. As a state with one of the highest rates of struggling rural hospitals in the nation, this funding through the RHTP is essential.”
Kelly says the program is part of House Resolution 1, which made funding and coverage cuts to Medicaid. She also says the Transformation Program won’t completely offset the funding cuts elsewhere in HR1, but the plan will help Kansas “make fundamental changes to the rural health care system to protect rural Kansans’ access to health care near their homes.”
Schmidt disagrees, saying this is an “apples and oranges comparison.”
Kelly is is creating the Kansas Rural Health Innovation Alliance to oversee the application’s development and the rollout of initiatives that will be fleshed out later.
Kansas will submit one application by Nov. 5, with funding spread out over five years. Funding awards will be divulged by the end of the year.
