Delaware

Delaware was awarded approximately $157.4 million (reported as nearly $160 million) for federal fiscal year 2026 under the Rural Health Transformation Program — the floor amount every state received. Year 1 is the first tranche of a much larger multi-year plan; Delaware's own Executive Budget Summary puts the total estimated direct cost of its plan at $721,329,131.03, with a 9.1% indirect cost rate for statewide oversight. The award is structured by CMS as an annual award across a five-year performance period, and is Delaware's share of the federal $50 billion program.

The program is administered by the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) through the Division of Public Health. Governor Matt Meyer has framed the effort as a generational rural healthcare overhaul. Program contact: nichole.moxley@delaware.gov.

Delaware's plan unites 15 integrated initiatives designed to expand access, strengthen the workforce, modernize technology, and improve population health in rural Sussex and Kent counties — directly impacting roughly 400,000 rural residents, about 38–40% of the state's population. The Delaware Health Information Network (DHIN) provides the technology backbone, linking mobile health units to patient EMRs and the state Health Information Exchange.

Money is spread across 15 initiatives detailed in Delaware's Executive Budget Summary. Named projects include:

• Workforce — a vendor-managed technology product supporting SB122 and related workforce data needs ($2,685,200).
• Delaware Diabetes Wellness Pilot Program — a three-year observational study using care management and continuous glucose monitoring (enabled by HB305).
• Rural Community Health Hubs, School-Based Health Centers Expansion, Rural Library-Based Health Access, and a Food is Medicine Infrastructure Initiative.
• Creation of a medical school (rural med-school track).

The full project-by-project breakdown and budgets are in Delaware's RHTP Executive Budget Summary.

Delaware opened its initial RFPs against its RHTP allocation on February 9, 2026, formalizing the procurement track. The state is now accepting RFP applications for the Workforce program ($2,685,200), with additional RFPs identified for Rural Community Health Hubs, School-Based Health Centers Expansion, Rural Library-Based Health Access, the Food is Medicine Infrastructure Initiative, and the medical school. The Diabetes Wellness Pilot (HB305) is one of the 15 projects and will plug into this procurement track. The dispatch list below carries the running record.

Delaware's initial RFP track opened February 9, 2026, and specific application windows for each of the 15 initiatives are being posted on a rolling basis. Because most early dates have passed or vary by RFP, live deadlines surface first in the dated dispatches below and on the state procurement portal.

Delaware bids portal →

The Rural Health Transformation Program was created by Section 71401 of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (2025) and is administered federally by CMS. Delaware has paired its award with enabling state legislation: HB305 establishes the Delaware Diabetes Wellness Pilot Program inside DHSS (its fiscal note states the act is "to be federally funded through the Federal Rural Health Transformation Program"), and SB122 expands health-care workforce data collection to support workforce research and planning. Delaware submitted its full application, with 15 projects, to CMS in November 2025.

Eligibility runs on two tracks. Direct-to-state contracts go out as competitive RFPs (for example, the workforce technology product and other vendor-managed initiatives), where firms bid as prime contractors. Subgrants and subawards flow to rural providers and community partners — hospitals, health clinics, school-based health centers, libraries, and community organizations serving Kent and Sussex counties — where technology vendors and consultants most often engage as subcontractors or implementation partners rather than direct grantees. Because DHIN provides the technology backbone, vendors whose solutions integrate with the state Health Information Exchange are well positioned.

Track and respond to opportunities on the Delaware bids portal and follow the RHTP hub.