Ohio is seeking proposals for rural health projects, as the state looks to dispense $202 million in new federal money.
Ohio will receive the funds this year through a federal program called the Rural Health Transformation Program, set up as part of the budget reconciliation bill passed last year. The money comes from federal health agencies and Ohio will get money each year for the next five years.
The Ohio Department of Health, which is overseeing the fund, this month opened grant applications for worker training and pharmacy services, with more grant categories to open in the future. Hospitals and other groups can apply for money for projects that fit their community鈥檚 needs.
Federal leaders said the money will help improve services, fix worker shortages and update health systems. Ohio also plans to open more school health centers, expand child vision care and support care for pregnant women in rural areas.
But rural health leaders, including Rosana Scott, executive director of the nonprofit Ohio Rural Health Association, said the money will not last forever.
鈥淲e are very grateful for the money and we are very appreciative of what Ohio is doing in how they鈥檙e trying to best use it,鈥� said Scott. 鈥淏ut it will not offset the long-term impacts.鈥�
Scott said rural hospitals and clinics are under pressure. They report costs are rising and they are getting paid less for care provided to patients covered by Medicare and Medicaid.
Proposed Medicaid cuts, passed under the same budget reconciliation bill, stand to make things worse, Scott said.
She said these problems could lead to closures and reductions in services that leave people with fewer choices for care.
鈥淎nytime that you are impacting a source of care in an area, you are going to hurt rural Ohioans being able to access that care,鈥� Scott said.
Rural Ohio communities could lose an estimated $5.62 billion in health care funds over the next ten years, according to an by the independent health care policy organization, KFF. Ohio鈥檚 $202 million award will help in the short term. But compared to other states, Ohio received one of the of money per rural resident, KFF reported.
Scott said without steady, long-term funding, rural hospitals will keep struggling, with maternity care services being among the first expected to be cut.
