Gov. Patrick Morrisey said the state is ready with its Rural Health Transformation Program application for five-year funding of up to $100 million annually to support rural healthcare.
Today was the deadline for the state's application. The state aims to attract and train healthcare professionals, enhance telehealth and transportation and promote preventive care.
A summary of West Virginia's application can be found here.
"You know this represents a very exciting new chapter for West Virginia in our efforts to really strengthen the health and well being for all West Virginians and to use that as leverage to grow our economy in a way you've never seen before," Morrisey said at a news conference today.
"This is a unique opportunity and something we're going to be doing right."
Key initiatives include the "Mountain Health Challenge," which encourages physical activity and efforts to remove harmful dyes from food, areas the early months of the Morrisey administration has emphasized already.
This is through The Rural Health Transformation Program, created under the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" to distribute $50 billion over five years across all 50 states to strengthen rural health care.
The program to support rural health grew out of concerns that changes to Medicaid under the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" would undercut already fragile rural health systems.
The program is being administered by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Of the full amount, $25 billion will be evenly divided among the 50 states, and discretionary dollars will be allocated to states based on each state's application, the state's rural nature, and other policies. Allocation to each state is based on a competitive application process and guided by the quality of state-proposed strategies.
"By submitting the Rural Health Transformation application, we have a chance to truly engage in innovative and generational change for our citizens," Morrisey said.