A committee of elected officials, hospital owners and other healthcare professionals from around the state this week divvied up Wyoming’s share of the federal Rural Health Transformation Program.
In May, Wyoming’s request for $205 million was approved by the feds. The state outlined four categories to address, including basic emergency care, rural workforce supply, health technology transformation and for an initiative called “Make Wyoming Healthy Again.”
The state’s recently created Rural Health Transformation Advisory Committee has been tasked with awarding those funds based on recommendations from the Wyoming Department of Health (WDH).
The goal of the committee is not to fix Wyoming’s healthcare system in a single year, but to instead begin the process of building out a much larger and robust system of medical workers, updated technology and support the infrastructure needed for rural healthcare. The federal funds will continue for five years, but the WDH would like any expansion in services to be sustainable without federal funds by the 6th year.
The committee reviewed the WDH’s recommended awards for workforce training programs to train and keep medical workers in the state, initiatives to promote health living and programs like the Presidential Physical Fitness Test, technology upgrades for medical facilities, hospitals that provide critical services for entire regions, and a number of administrative and teleservice requests.
Critical access hospitals will receive the lion’s share of this year’s award, about $48 million. WDH gave hospitals a score rating their capacity to utilize funds annually for the expansion services and infrastructure. The committee agreed to spend over $48 million on hospitals like Memorial Hospital of Converse County and Cody Regional Health. Of the nearly one dozen hospitals that applied for funds, three in Sweetwater, Evanston and South Lincoln must work with the WDH to create a sustainable development plan before receiving their award money. Three more in Torrington Community Hospital, Washakie Medical Center and Platte County Hospital were denied funding for late submissions and low technical scores determined by the WDH, but were encouraged to apply in year two. Most awards are for a few million dollars.
Members on the committee also spent a large portion of time discussing emergency medical services (EMS), namely the ability to move those with a medical emergency from rural areas to the appropriate healthcare locations. About $23 million was awarded to 11 districts and hospitals looking to expand or start up regional medical transport services, such as the town of Shoshoni and Crook County Medical Services District. The awarded amount was larger than WDH’s original recommendation of $19 million, as members of the committee noted that developing a network that covers rural labor and delivery deserts will take “millions and millions of dollars” before they’re able to see real impacts.
$18 million was also earmarked for graduate medical education programs and $35 million will pay for workforce education individual support. The committee also committed funds to the University of Wyoming, as well as the University of Utah. According to the WDH, the University of Utah had a “better quality” proposal, despite the University of Wyoming scoring higher based on it's physical presence in Wyoming. The University of Utah was able to meet the requirement for a program that would see graduates commit to 5 years of on-the-ground medical work in Wyoming.
Millions more are headed toward a technology adoption challenge, a statewide telehealth specialist, integrated care and more. All counties will see a clinic or organization seeking to engage in preventive care with older Wyomingites, to avoid higher costs to the health system down the road. However, Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho had no preventive care organizations bid for their area. Instead, the WDH will work with tribal communities to find a suitable provider or revert the funds to preventive care elsewhere in the state if no provider can be found.
The committee also created fiscal agents to work within the WDH on EMS and maternity care. With the idea of long-term development in mind, the agents would help the WDH commit unused award money on projects to improve EMS access and maternity care.
The Rural Health Transformation Advisory Committee may meet again as award money is distributed and used. The WDH wants to assemble members in November when federal officials meet with state health officials for a tour of medical facilities around the state.
This reporting was made possible by a grant from the Corporation For Public Broadcasting, supporting state government coverage in the state. Wyoming Public Media and Jackson Hole Community Radio are partnering to cover state issues both on air and online.
