Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Aug. 24 announced 138 grants totaling more than $144 million to healthcare providers and institutions statewide, the first round of funding under the Alabama Rural Health Transformation Program.
The grants, which cover projects in every Alabama county, are part of a $203,404,326.54 award from CMS, funded entirely by the federal agency. The program is administered by the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs and was developed with the governor’s office, the Alabama Department of Finance, the Alabama Medicaid Agency and the Alabama State Health Planning and Development Agency.
The program includes 11 initiatives in total. This first round funds five: Rural Health, Rural Workforce, Mental Health, Rural Health Practice and Collaborative EHR, IT and Cybersecurity. Grants for the remaining initiatives will be announced later.
Some of the larger awards include:
- University of Alabama at Birmingham (Ala.): $7 million to expand its rural primary care physician pipeline across 35 counties, plus $887,616 for a youth workforce program in emergency medical services and public health.
- Auburn (Ala.) University: $5 million for a Rural Workforce Academy, $6.38 million for a shared digital health and cybersecurity network, and $4 million to build a network of local care access sites tied to a central virtual clinic.
- Opelika, Ala.-based East Alabama Health Care Authority: $6.77 million to build a regional shared services hub for partner hospitals, plus additional grants for a mobile outreach bus and a new family medicine residency.
- Cullman (Ala.) Regional Medical Center: $3.8 million to launch a family medicine residency program with an obstetrics track.
- Mobile, Ala.-based Infirmary Health System: more than $5 million across four grants covering rural referral networks, women’s health access and physician training.
- Tuscaloosa, Ala.-based DCH Health Care Authority: $2 million for non-emergency medical transportation and $3 million to recruit cardiology specialists for west Alabama.
Five health systems, including UAB St. Vincent’s hospitals in Blount, Chilton and St. Clair counties, part of Birmingham, Ala.-based UAB Health System, each received $839,753 to modernize IT, cybersecurity and EHR systems.
The mental health initiative funded 13 grants aimed largely at helping community mental health centers transition to the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic model and expanding school-based behavioral health services, including a $935,895 award to Mobile, Ala.-based AltaPointe Health Systems for a school mental health crisis network.
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