Wisconsin

Wisconsin's first-year award is approximately $203.7 million, its share of the federal $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program. The program is a five-year CMS cooperative agreement; CMS has not yet announced award amounts for the subsequent four years. Wisconsin is sequencing its money in rounds — for example, its Rural Technology Transformation Fund is designed as formula-based allocations of an estimated $209 million over five years (pending CMS approval), delivered in two rounds, with Round 1 in 2026 and the larger Round 2 in 2027.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) administers the program, with questions routed to aaron.larson@dhs.wisconsin.gov. A dedicated RHTP Advisory Council provides strategic guidance and input, and the University of Wisconsin provides application technical assistance (RHTP-evaluation@wisc.edu).

Wisconsin's plan is focused on improving the health and wellbeing of rural communities by expanding access, improving quality, and ensuring sustainable solutions. A defining feature is its technology ambition: DHS is pursuing a single statewide electronic health records (EHR) system so rural organizations can achieve economies of scale through one procurement — a shared clinical and billing system with longitudinal records, a patient portal and a closed-loop referral network. Alongside that, the plan invests in care coordination across systems and sectors, community health workers, and rural dental efficiency and access. RHC Network, Quality Initiatives and Pharmacy Hubs are core project tags.

Wisconsin's marquee vehicle is the Rural Technology Transformation Fund:

• Round 1 — $61M over three years, an invitation-only competition limited to the 12 FQHC organizations and 28 Rural Health Clinic organizations named in the state's Exhibit 4 (RHCs see $28M in Year 1, ~$1.01M average per org; FQHCs see $15M, ~$1.26M average).
• Round 2 — an estimated $148M in 2027, reaching hospital systems (44), local health departments (69), Tribal clinics (14), and free/charitable and opioid-treatment facilities (26).

A separate June batch put $40M into three grants — Care Coordination (up to $10M planning), Community Health Worker ($20M), and Rural Dental Efficiency and Access ($10M). Eligible technology buys are broad and hardware-specific — EHR/IT upgrades, data-analytics subscriptions, Bluetooth blood-pressure cuffs, continuous glucose monitors, ambient AI scribes, even robotic surgical systems — within federal caps (EHR replacement 5%, administrative 8%, minor renovations 20%; no new construction).

Wisconsin has moved on several fronts. It issued a statewide EHR RFP (eSupplier event S-FMF1944 OGM-26 / Event 14009, proposals due April 20) for a vendor to design, host and manage a full-service shared EHR, following an EHR Readiness and Interest survey. It opened the Rural Technology Transformation Fund Round 1 ($61M) in July, and released a June batch of three grants ($40M) for care coordination, community health workers and rural dental. Round 2 of the technology fund and its eligible-organization list won't post until 2027. Every dated dispatch covering Wisconsin is listed below, newest first, and it carries the running procurement record.

Recent grant deadlines from the June batch: Rural Dental Efficiency and Access due July 27, Community Health Worker due August 7 (letters of intent recommended by July 1), and Care Coordination due August 21. The statewide EHR RFP set proposals due April 20. Grant windows generally run about 10 weeks. Round 2 of the Rural Technology Transformation Fund is expected to open in 2027, with funds beginning summer or fall of that year. Live windows surface first in the dated dispatches below and on the DHS grant funding opportunities 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 Wisconsin, the award is administered through DHS, with strategic input from the RHTP Advisory Council. Detailed allocation figures are set out in Wisconsin's approved project and budget narratives.

Eligibility runs on two tracks. Direct-to-state contracts go out as competitive RFPs through Wisconsin's eSupplier portal, where firms bid as prime contractors — the statewide EHR system is the flagship example, and technology vendors compete for that build directly. Subgrants and subawards flow to rural providers — FQHCs, Rural Health Clinics, hospital systems, local health departments, Tribal clinics and free/charitable facilities — and here vendors and consultants most often engage as subcontractors or implementation partners. Note Wisconsin's Rural Technology Transformation Fund is invitation-only against a pre-identified list; being named guarantees nothing, and DHS negotiates each award individually. Group purchasing is encouraged so smaller organizations can reach scale on shared software or big-ticket equipment.

Track opportunities on the DHS grant funding opportunities page, review the Advisory Council, and sign up for RHTP email updates.

Wisconsin DHS Rural Health Transformation Program →