Colorado

Colorado's Year 1 award is $200,105,604.17, fully funded by CMS as its share of the federal $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program. The approved project narrative narrows an original 5-year, roughly $1 billion draft down to Budget Period 1 only, with those first-year funds to be fully expended by September 30, 2027. Spending guardrails cap direct provider payments at 15% (Budget Period 1 lands at 11%, or $21,524,573.22) and hold state administrative overhead to 2.65%.

The Colorado Department of Health Care Policy & Financing (HCPF) administers the program through its Rural Health Transformation Division, led by Division Director Courtney Roy. Program questions go to hcpf_rhtp@state.co.us.

Colorado is steering RHTP dollars toward provider stabilization, rural workforce retention, and Medicaid alignment, alongside chronic-disease prevention and management, EMS transport coordination and coverage, community health worker and rural-clinician training, telehealth participation, and whole-person and alternative care models. A guiding principle set by the RHTP Advisory Committee is to fund fewer, larger, collaborative projects tied directly to program goals rather than many small grants.

Colorado RHTP hub →

• Direct provider payments — capped at 15% of the grant; Budget Period 1 sits at 11% ($21,524,573.22).
• EHR replacement — capped at 5% ($205,280) under Initiative 5.
• Priority themes include provider stabilization, workforce retention, and Medicaid alignment, plus chronic-disease prevention, EMS transport coordination and coverage, CHW and rural-clinician continuing education, telehealth support, and the Whole Person Health and Alternative Care Models program.

The full line-by-line allocation is set out in Colorado's approved Budget Narrative.

Colorado's competitive Request for Applications (RFA) opened June 18, 2026 through the state's RFA application portal, with applications due 11:59 p.m. on August 3, 2026. Each application is led by a Lead Applicant Organization (LAO) that serves as fiscal agent for state payments. HCPF separately contracted the Colorado Rural Health Center (CRHC), the State Office of Rural Health, to provide free application training and technical assistance (CRHC_RHTP@coruralhealth.org). Every dated dispatch covering Colorado is listed below, newest first.

• August 3, 2026, 11:59 p.m. — RFA application deadline.
• Final LAO office hours: July 23, July 27, and July 29, 2026.
• RHTP Advisory Committee meeting: July 27, 2026, 10:00–11:30 a.m.
• September 30, 2027 — Budget Period 1 funds must be fully expended.

Live dates surface first in the dated dispatches below.

The Rural Health Transformation Program was created by Section 71401 of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (2025) and is administered federally by CMS. In Colorado, the State Controller approved a waiver of Fiscal Rule 3-1, letting HCPF make case-by-case advance payments (rather than reimbursement only) through June 30, 2027; after that date the blanket waiver expires. State allocation figures are detailed in Colorado's approved Project and Budget Narratives.

Eligibility runs on two tracks. Direct-to-state contracts go out as competitive RFAs, where firms bid as prime contractors. Subgrants and subawards flow to rural providers — hospitals, Rural Health Clinics, FQHCs, Tribal health organizations, EMS agencies, counties and special districts physically located in one of Colorado's 52 rural or frontier counties — and it is here that technology vendors and consultants most often engage as subcontractors or implementation partners. Colorado explicitly names technology vendors and consultants among the non-eligible lead applicants that may still join an application as partners.

Track opportunities on the HCPF RHTP hub and the RFA application portal, and complete the state's vendor interest survey to be listed for partnerships.