New York

New York's Year 1 award is $212,058,207.80 from CMS/HHS, its share of the federal $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program. The program is a five-year CMS cooperative agreement structured in budget periods. New York's first procurement, Rural Community Health Integration (RCHI), draws $76,190,022 from Budget Period 1; notably, RCHI's implementation dollars don't flow in BP1 — they arrive in Budget Periods 2 through 5, with BP2 beginning November 1, 2026.

The New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) administers the program, with questions routed to RHTP@health.ny.gov. RCHI applications and questions run through a dedicated program address, rchi@health.ny.gov (submissions are by email, not a portal).

New York's plan is organized around four initiatives, the first and most developed of which is Rural Community Health Integration (RCHI) — building collaborative, implementation-ready integrated health networks anchored by a hospital in each rural community. The state prioritizes projects in maternal-child health, maternity services, behavioral health integration, and substance use disorder prevention, and holds applicants to at least one of three committed outcomes: reducing potentially preventable emergency visits, reducing hospital-wide readmissions, and increasing preventive care such as colorectal screening. Global Budget Pilots, Hospital Transition and Health Information Technology (HIT) are core project tags across the broader plan.

The first tranche is RCHI's $76,190,022 in Budget Period 1, split into two tracks:

• Planning grants — up to $500,000 per county (per-county ceiling), stackable for multi-county applicants (three counties = up to $1.5M).
• Implementation grants — capped at $3,000,000 per application, covering up to three projects combined.

Administrative costs are held to a tighter 5% in aggregate across the lead applicant and all partners/subcontractors, and capital/infrastructure spending is capped at 20%. The remaining initiatives — including global-budget pilots and hospital-transition work — are detailed in New York's project and budget narratives, with most implementation dollars scheduled for Budget Periods 2 through 5.

New York's first live procurement is the Rural Community Health Integration (RCHI) funding guidance, released June 11, 2026. Through Addendum #1 (July 2) and Addendum #2 (July 6, a 375-question Q&A), the state extended the deadline, expanded the eligible-county map, and hardened the “located in” test. Award announcements are anticipated by the end of August 2026, with all contracts executed by September 30, 2026. This is the first of four planned initiatives; subsequent procurements will surface in later budget periods. Every dated dispatch covering New York is listed below, newest first.

The RCHI application deadline, after two extensions, was Tuesday, July 14, 2026 (4:00 PM EST), submitted by email to rchi@health.ny.gov. A webinar was held June 23. Award announcements are anticipated by end of August 2026, contracts executed by September 30, 2026, projects complete by June 30, 2027, funds fully expended by September 30, 2027, and final vouchers and reports due July 31, 2027. Future RCHI implementation guidance arrives across Budget Periods 2 through 5, with BP2 beginning November 1, 2026. Live windows surface first in the dated dispatches below and on the NYSDOH rural-health page.

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 New York, the award is administered through the Department of Health under its CMS-approved project and budget narratives. Detailed allocation figures are set out in those narratives.

Eligibility runs on two tracks. Direct-to-state contracts would go out as competitive procurements where firms bid as prime contractors. RCHI, however, flows as subawards with strict eligibility: each application needs a lead applicant — a registered 501(c)(3) not-for-profit or municipal hospital with a three-plus-year compliance history, physically present or legally domiciled in one of the eligible rural counties (the list stands at 47–49 counties across the addenda) — plus partner organizations and at least one General Hospital or Rural Emergency Hospital. Partners can sit anywhere, including out of state, as long as their work benefits eligible counties — the natural entry point for technology vendors and consultants engaging as subcontractors or implementation partners rather than direct grantees.

Track opportunities on the NYSDOH Transforming Rural Healthcare hub and direct RCHI questions to rchi@health.ny.gov.

NYSDOH Transforming Rural Healthcare →