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A patient room at a medical-surgical unit in 2024 at Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage. (Loren Holmes \/ ADN archive) <\/p>\nA patient room at a medical-surgical unit in 2024 at Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage. (Loren Holmes \/ ADN archive) <\/p>\n
This story was produced through the USC Center for Health Journalism\u2019s 2026 National Fellowship.<\/p>\n
Alaska health officials on Friday awarded another $30 million from the Rural Health Transformation Program, including $12 million to state agencies.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a portion of the $272 million distributed to Alaska by the federal government in the first year of the newly created program, which is intended to improve healthcare in the most remote parts of the country, and partially make up for cuts to Medicaid spending<\/a> projected in the coming years. <\/p>\n Roughly $237 million remains to be distributed to hundreds of awaiting applicants in Alaska, including hospitals, clinics, local governments and Alaska Native organizations. Additional award announcements are expected in the coming weeks as the Alaska Department of Health rushes to distribute the funds in accordance with complex federal and state requirements. <\/p>\n The trickle of funding could pose a challenge for eventual recipients, who must spend down the funds by October 2027, or else risk forfeiting the money. <\/p>\n A list of hundreds of award finalists<\/a> released by the state in June did not include any requests from state agencies, but the award recipients listed on Friday indicated that millions would go to state agencies, including the Department of Corrections and the Office of Children\u2019s Services.<\/p>\n State Department of Health spokesperson Mirna Estrada said that state agencies submitted their proposals \u201cinternally\u201d rather than competing directly with non-state applicants. Additional awards to state agencies are expected, she said.<\/p>\n The awards include $1.1 million to the Alaska education department to implement the Presidential Physical Fitness Test. The test was eliminated under former President Barack Obama in 2012 and reinstated<\/a> by President Donald Trump last year.<\/p>\n The funding will be used to \u201csupport training for teachers and coaches, and will supply schools and districts with the necessary equipment to adequately implement the program in schools across Alaska,\u201d Department of Education spokesperson Bryan Zadalis wrote in an email, calling the funding \u201da win-win for our students, schools, and the Alaskan community.\u201d<\/p>\n Additionally, Alaska health officials awarded $4 million for the Department of Corrections to offer telemedicine and other services to inmates; $5 million to the Office of Children\u2019s Services for a new information technology system; and $1 million to the University of Alaska Fairbanks for a new healthcare workforce training program. <\/p>\n [Previously:<\/b> Alaska officials award less than 2% of rural healthcare funding, postponing decision on remainder<\/a>]<\/p>\n The Rural Health Transformation Program, which was created through a GOP-backed bill last year, has faced criticism for its strict federal requirements, which could funnel spending toward Outside technology firms<\/a>, rather than resolving what Alaska health officials have identified as basic barriers<\/a> to care access in the state, such as a limited number of providers and prohibitive costs that cause many Alaskans to delay basic and preventive care. <\/p>\n The Alaska Department of Health is funneling its funding to groups in a piecemeal approach, with an average award size so far coming in at less than $700,000. The approach means more providers can get a piece of Alaska\u2019s share, but it has also launched a mad dash for providers to submit applications, and for state officials to review whether they adhere to the federal and state requirements. <\/p>\n \u201cAlaska is doing something different, and I think that is the right fit for our state, but it does create additional administrative complexities,\u201d Deputy Health Commissioner Emily Ricci said during an advisory council meeting Monday. <\/p>\n Ricci said Alaska\u2019s health providers \u201ctend to operate relatively independently compared to other states.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat means we don\u2019t have some of the inherent systems to create more of that coordination and collaboration that I think can really benefit patient care and financial efficiency and sustainability,\u201d Ricci said.<\/p>\n Health officials said during the meeting that the advice they are getting from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is changing by the day, and the federal rules prohibit many of the types of expenditures that rural providers may seek, like for internet connectivity or new building construction. <\/p>\n Nancy Merriman, chief executive of the Alaska Primary Care Association, said that applicants have found the process \u201csubstantially more complex and time-intensive than many anticipated.\u201d<\/p>\n Monique Martin, vice president of the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, said that the state\u2019s application requirements have proven burdensome for providers in the most rural parts of the state. <\/p>\n \u201cANTHC is a large organization and we\u2019re struggling with how we keep up with this. So imagine if you\u2019re serving a really rural population,\u201d Martin said. <\/p>\n Martin said the awards thus far have befuddled some applicants in remote villages. For example, applicants in communities that lack running water and sanitation asked for funding to build or improve those basic services, but found that none of those proposals advanced. <\/p>\n \u201cA lot of people in rural and frontier communities really felt like, \u2018Here\u2019s our chance \u2014 we\u2019re off the road system, we\u2019re serving people,\u2019\u201d Martin said, adding that they were left confused by the funding decisions so far. <\/p>\n Alaska health officials attributed their decisions to federal requirements and an evolving application process.<\/p>\n The latest round of funding includes $5 million to the Norton South Health Corp. for high-speed routers; $1.1 million for Kotzebue-based Maniilaq to purchase new information technology systems; $1 million for Providence to establish a maternal telehealth program in Seward; $1 million for Mat-Su Health Services for a telehealth platform; $430,000 for Maniilaq to begin using artificial intelligence to process behavioral health paperwork; and $250,000 for the Tanana Chiefs Conference to develop drones that can deliver medications. <\/p>\n Leader of several organizations, all of whom had themselves applied for funding through the rural health program, praised the state Monday for its work so far processing funding applications but raised concerns about the program\u2019s long-term sustainability \u2014 particularly as Alaska\u2019s Department of Health prepares to implement new Medicaid work requirements that could cause thousands of Alaskans to lose access to care<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cEven when there\u2019s a smooth process, getting $270 million out the door is not going to be easy,\u201d said Martin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A patient room at a medical-surgical unit in 2024 at Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage. (Loren Holmes…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1007836,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[35],"tags":[210,1141,1142,6478,69539,43805,15603,81305,262637,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-1007835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare","tag-hospital","tag-nurse","tag-nursing","tag-providence","tag-providence-alaska-medical-center","tag-providence-hospital","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117114409490193922","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1007835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1007835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1007835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1007836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1007835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1007835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1007835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/TFGJ4XBBQBH3FCCKSQRTFLOBBQ.JPG\")
Emily Ricci, deputy commissioner of the Alaska Department of Health, speaks during a Rural Health Transformation Program Convening held at the Hilton Anchorage on Jan. 15, 2026. (Bill Roth \/ ADN archive) <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IO2WSEWN2NF43GZHWUKPEF6UUA.JPG\")
Monique Martin, vice president of intergovernmental affairs for the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, speaks during a Rural Health Transformation Program Convening held at the Hilton Anchorage on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Bill Roth \/ ADN) <\/p>\n