By Krista Kano / October 29, 2026
Over $100 million is now being deployed to improve rural health across the state following a recent announcement from state and national officials.
Gov. Mike DeWine and U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz recently celebrated another $92 million worth of Ohio’s Rural Health Transformation Program awards, which will go toward expanding clinically integrated networks and health innovation hubs, improving maternal care and investing in rural hospitals.
The governor previously announced $10 million to improve the rural health workforce and $3.15 million to help expand rural pharmacy connectivity as part of Ohio’s $202 million award through the $50 billion federal program.
DeWine called it an “important” program that will “ensure that all Ohioans, regardless of where they live, have access to the care they need.”
“These investments will transform healthcare in rural Ohio,” he said.
The recent awards include $1.4 million each for 22 rural hospitals for quality improvement projects, such as opening behavioral health units, adding on-site MRI services, and adding or expanding diagnostic services.
The one-time investments totaling $30.3 million had at one point been a topic of debate among lawmakers.
Legislators had initially planned to separate the $202 million award into specific pots through a reappropriations package, House Bill 730, but ultimately removed the language amid disagreements about which rural hospitals should be eligible for the $30.3 million one-time investments.
The Controlling Board later approved the distributions but expanded the list of eligible hospitals beyond the 13 chosen by the House Rural Hospital Caucus.
All but one of those original hospitals — Wood County Hospital in Bowling Green — received an award.
House Finance Committee Chair Rep. Brian Stewart, R-Ashville, said in an interview that he was pleased by the hospital awards, adding that there is a desire in the House to ensure rural hospitals are financially solvent.
“There are financial difficulties outside of their control that affect the revenues that go to an independent rural hospital system…that are not felt by a hospital in Cleveland and Columbus and Cincinnati,” he said.
“In the same way we look at our school system and say it’s important that we have schools everywhere in Ohio, we need to have hospitals everywhere in Ohio,” Stewart continued. “I think you’re going to see a continuing emphasis on making sure that we allocate state monies in a way that fairly addresses those unique challenges that exist in some of our rural community hospitals.”
The announcement also included $31.4 million for clinically integrated networks and health innovation hubs, the bulk of which (nearly $25 million) went to the Ohio High Value Network, a collaboration of 25 rural Ohio hospitals that launched in 2025 to share operational best practices and control costs.
The network also received the largest portion (nearly $25 million) of the $30.4 million maternal care awards, which can be used to provide mobile prenatal care services and virtual care, or increase capacity to treat premature and medically vulnerable newborns.
Several Rural Health Transformation awards have yet to be announced, including the $20.8 million earmarked for school-based health centers and the $25 million for the OhioSee program that provides eye care to students.
Ohio’s application for the program also included a promise to give pharmacists the ability to “test to treat,” which must be done via legislation by Dec. 31, 2027.
The Senate already passed one such bill, Senate Bill 230, in June. It has yet to be assigned to a House committee.