CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Governor Patrick Morrisey and others in West Virginia are pleased with what could come from the Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP).
RHTP was created under the Trump administration and the One Big Beautiful Bill. The RHTP would distribute $50 billion over five years across all 50 states to help rural healthcare across the nation.
$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.
According to Morrisey, West Virginia would receive a minimum of $100 million per year for five years to go to its several rural hospitals. The state does have to send in a formal application, and Morrisey has asked residents and healthcare providers to provide input.
“That, by itself, is really wonderful, and it has the potential to do a lot of good for West Virginians,” Morrisey said last week.
“This Rural Health Transformation Project is more than a federal program, it’s a lifeline for West Virginia and our residents,” said state Department of Health Secretary Dr. Arvin Singh.
Singh says West Virginia has been at the bottom of health-related rankings for a long time, and things need to change.
“We all know the hard truth. West Virginia ranks at the bottom of nearly every health metric, whether it’s heart failure, whether it’s infant mortality, but we’re not here to dwell on those problems, we’re here to seize the solutions,” he said. “This initiative gives us those needed resources, that flexibility, and the opportunity to chart our own future.”
State Department of Human Service Secretary Alex Mayer says the state’s struggle with healthcare has been made clear ever since he was appointed, and changing that is a top priority for him.
“When I first got here, this was something that was continually told to me — that we rank last in a number of areas,” Mayer said.
Mayer says the RHTP will involve far more than just his office.
“This opportunity doesn’t just impact my agency or Dr. Singh’s agency, but it spans a lot of different organizations across state government that are going to have meaningful impacts and meaningful contributions to really assist the state in continuing to move the needle and produce outcomes that we’re proud of,” Mayer said.