Following the close of the RHTF application and review process, WDH presented its award recommendations to the Rural Health Transformation Advisory Committee on August 11, 2026. WDH first reviewed applications for eligibility, including required partnerships, cash match, entity type, regionalization, duplication, and submission deadlines.
Eligible applications were then competitively scored based on alignment with the state strategy, community need, organizational capacity, collaboration, sustainability, financial participation, implementation plans, allowable costs, and anticipated improvements in access, coordination, or efficiency.
WDH separately reviewed proposed budgets and could reduce funding for unsupported, duplicative, unallowable, or above-limit costs.
The committee generally accepted WDH’s recommendations but increased several awards, imposed sustainability and federal-allowability conditions on others, authorized additional hospital and EMS funding, and upheld denials for late or ineligible applications.
$48.2M for Critical Access Hospitals
The program combined incentives for maintaining essential services with allowable startup and swing-bed conversion costs. 15 initially qualifying applications were approved; 3 hospitals conditional awards requiring acceptable sustainability plans.
Additional funding was approved for 3 hospitals pending WDH verification of costs, federal allowability, and renovation limits.
Late applications from Torrington Community Hospital, Washakie Medical Center, and Platte County Hospital were denied.
$23.6M for EMS Regionalization
Applicants had to demonstrate actual regionalization rather than request support for a single service. Approved efforts included those led by Cody Regional Health, Uinta County Fire and Ambulance, the City of Laramie, Sheridan Memorial Hospital, Crook County Medical Services District, North Lincoln County Hospital District, Memorial Hospital of Converse County, Campbell County Health, and Pine Bluffs.
Shoshone Ambulance and Johnson County EMS received funds contingent on WDH approval of sustainability and tax-base structures. Platte County Hospital was denied because its proposal did not demonstrate viable regionalization. Single-agency applications were not eligible under the first-year rule; however the committee asked WDH to provide more flexibility and technical assistance for regional consolidation in Year 2.
$38.6M for Workforce EducationThe committee approved $35.4 million for individual workforce education support and $3.1 million for institutional workforce education startup. A fiscal agent will administer statewide individual and institutional awards.
$17.7M for Physician GME
This investment is designed to address a key physician-workforce issue: medical school graduates cannot practice independently until they complete residency, and Wyoming has limited residency capacity. The state’s approved plan therefore emphasizes adding postgraduate training positions, particularly in family medicine and rural training settings.
Recipients of these funds include the University of Utah (cohort expansion) and the University of Wyoming (rural training track) both of which will require a 5-year service commitment from physicians who benefit from these programs.
Cheyenne Regional Medical Center was also a recipient of an award that will fund the infrastructure to develop a statewide GME Council.
$30.4M for Integrated Primary Care
Initial recommendations included Health West in Rock Springs, Community Health Center of Central Wyoming, Wind River Family and Community Healthcare, Bighorn Valley Health Center, Warm Valley Health Care, Educational Health Center of Wyoming, HealthWorks, and Community Action of Laramie County. Additionally, the committee directed WDH to expand Year 2 eligibility beyond FQHCs and Tribal 638 providers when applicants serve vulnerable populations, use an appropriate sliding-fee structure, and demonstrate sustainability.
$3.2M for Coordinated Care
The coordinated-care pilot will connect high-risk residents with local organizations that can help manage appointments, medications, referrals, follow-up care, and transitions between providers. WDH will use Medicaid and Medicare claims data to identify eligible participants and evaluate whether structured care coordination improves outcomes and reduces avoidable health-care use. The plan covers every Wyoming county and includes separate partnerships with the Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone Tribes.
Other awards included:
- Technology Projects – $12.6M
- Statewide tele-specialist platform – $3.4M
- Non-emergency transportation coordination – $828K
- Centralized billing support: $2M
- Exercise, nutrition, policy, and administration – $8.4M
WDH initially estimated that approximately $48 million would remain unallocated because application demand did not align with the original initiative budgets and some proposed costs exceeded program limits or were not allowable. After the committee approved additional and conditional awards, the remaining balance was reduced to $17.6 million.
The committee unanimously directed WDH to distribute those funds through one or more fiscal agents, with grants focused on sustaining EMS systems and preserving rural labor-and-delivery and obstetric services. This final action ensured that Wyoming’s full Year One RHTF award was committed to priorities identified by communities across the state.