Health Information Technology

The Universal Service Administrative Company’s (USAC’s) estimated total Rural Health Care (RHC) Program demand for Funding Year 2026 is $911.25 million, including the gross demand estimate of $882.19 million for the Telecommunications (Telecom) and Healthcare Connect Fund (HCF) Programs and the projected USAC administrative expenses of $29.06 million.

Fifty billion dollars is now flowing to states to transform rural healthcare. For communities that have endured decades of hospital closures, provider shortages, and dwindling options, that money is welcome and long overdue. But every dollar of it is assuming patients and their caregivers can navigate digital systems—and a lot of them can’t. The Rural Health Transformation Program, authorized under P.L. 119-21, is designed to modernize care delivery through telehealth expansion, remote monitoring, digital patient portals, and data-sharing infrastructure. These are good investments.

Medicare telehealth flexibilities that enabled rural patients to access specialists remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic remain temporary, and Congress has not acted to make them permanent. The Rural Health Transformation Program, a $50 billion five-year federal initiative, cannot be used to pay for broadband installation or monthly internet costs at individual homes, despite the program's stated goals including improving access to broadband-enabled telehealth. 

Gov. Tony Evers, together with the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin, announced the award of $1.7 million in grant funding to improve access to and affordability of essential telecommunication services in Wisconsin.

Tory Starr is worried about the people who get medical care at Open Door Community Health Centers along California’s North Coast. “They’re the folks that work at restaurants. They’re the teacher’s aides,” said Starr, a registered nurse who became Open Door’s chief executive more than six years ago. Those patients, he said, are “really the heart and soul of rural America.” He said if his remote health centers don’t get a share of the billions of dollars Congress earmarked to transform health care in rural America, patients may soon lose services.

US Department of Agriculture Rural Development invites grant applications to improve access to remote education and health care in rural communities. USDA is making approximately $27 million in funding available under the Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grant Program. This program funds distance learning and telemedicine equipment, including audio and video equipment, to improve access to educational and health care opportunities in rural communities.

On April 30, the House of Representatives passed the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026 (H.R. 7567) by a vote of 224–200. Several amendments to the Act were backed by the National Association of Counties, including those that would: 

State leaders are already mapping out strategies to utilize funds from the $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program. Authorized by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the program will provide $10 billion annually from fiscal 2026 through 2030 to help states transform the rural health ecosystem by integrating broadband and other digital technologies into healthcare delivery. In North Carolina, the program is expected to impact approximately 400 healthcare providers, and an early

Five big ideas to improve the health of rural populations in the United States include "Modernize Rural Infrastructure." Rural internet service is essential for economic development but also increasingly for effective patient care with the growing use of remote patient monitoring and virtual care platforms. Telehealth, an evidence-based modality for many types of care, is possible only if patients and providers have broadband Internet service. Information technology upgrades are also needed in rural hospitals and other healthcare facilities.