Utah

Utah received $195,743,566.29 in first-year (Budget Period 1) funding, 100% funded by CMS/HHS, as its share of the federal $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program. The program runs five years (FY2026–FY2030), with additional annual awards expected in each funding year. Utah has mapped Year 1 into four buckets: Competitive & Community Grants $115.5M (59.1%), State & Public Entity Agreements $75.4M (38.5%), Data Evaluation & Mapping $1.7M (0.9%), and State Administration & Reserves $3.0M (1.5%).

The Utah Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) administers the award, with the program run out of the DHHS Commissioner's Office. Krisann Humphreys took over as RHTP Director the week of June 29, 2026, succeeding Brittney Okada, who stood the program up. General questions go to ruralht@utah.gov; the Office of Primary Care and Rural Health (opcrh@utah.gov) handles the preceptor-stipend track.

Utah organizes its work under seven named initiatives: RISE (workforce recruitment and retention), PATH (behavioral health–primary care integration), SHIFT (capital infrastructure), FAST (value-based care), LIFT (telehealth), SUPPORT (EHR modernization, cybersecurity and AI), and LINCS (interoperability). The through-lines are tech-enabled solutions, chronic care, and clinician retention — increasingly delivered through consortium "administrative partners" that receive funds and re-release them as downstream subawards to rural providers.

• Competitive & Community Grants — $115.5M (59.1%), across 11 opportunities and 20 key actions, administered by DHHS.
• State & Public Entity Agreements — $75.4M (38.5%), across 7 agreements with sister agencies (UDAF, USBE, UDOT, USHE, DPS, UETN, DEQ).
• Data Evaluation & Mapping Contracts — $1.7M (0.9%).
• State Administration & Reserves — $3.0M (1.5%).

The single largest solicitation is SPRINT (up to $59.2M in Year 1). The full activity-level breakdown is in Utah's approved Project and Budget Narratives.

Utah is running one of the most granular procurement programs of any state. Recent and active solicitations include the SPRINT Consortium RFGA (URHTP-2858-2026, up to $59.2M Year 1 / $291.8M over five years), LINCS 7.3–7.4 (URHTP-2694-2026, $11M Year 1), LIFT 5.1 Scalable Telehealth (run by UETN under a $26.5M subaward, $23.7M Year 1), RISE 2.5 Recruit and Retain ($20M Year 1), SHIFT 3.2 Rural Health Provider Networks (up to $18.5M over five years), a cross-listed Food Security Grant (up to $9.27M), and FAST 4.1 Value-Based Care ($15M). Earlier PATH 1.5 and RISE 2.2 preceptor rounds have closed. The dispatch list below carries the running record.

Near-term deadlines to hold: the SPRINT mandatory letter of intent is due July 27 with applications due August 7; LINCS 7.3–7.4 applications close August 7 (award by August 26); SHIFT 3.2 is due August 14; and the Food Security Grant runs July 21–August 31. Confirm each on Utah's funding-opportunities page; 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. Utah's participation is administered through DHHS under its CMS-approved Year 1 application and budget, with 100% of costs funded by CMS/HHS. Detailed allocation figures are set out in Utah's approved Project and Budget Narratives.

Eligibility runs on two tracks. Direct-to-state contracts go out as competitive RFGAs, where firms bid as prime contractors — and many Utah solicitations are written narrowly, favoring Utah-based organizations, 501(c)(3)s, ACOs, CINs, or consortiums with deep rural health-systems expertise and existing rural relationships. Subgrants and subawards flow to rural providers — rural hospitals, FQHCs, Rural Health Clinics, Tribal (I/T/U) facilities, behavioral health authorities, EMS and long-term care — where technology vendors and consultants most often engage as subcontractors or implementation partners. Awardees must register as State of Utah vendors, typically within 14 days of selection.

Track opportunities on the Utah RHTP hub and the funding-opportunities portal, and join the RHTP contact list for new-opportunity alerts by emailing ruralht@utah.gov.