(Photo by Mary Steurer/North Dakota Monitor)
(North Dakota Monitor) – Roughly $10 million is now up for grabs to help North Dakota critical access hospitals retain workers — the first of many grants the state is rolling out under the federally funded Rural Health Transformation Program.
The state anticipates giving out around 37 grants each totaling $270,000, though applicants can apply for more money, according to the North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services website. Critical access hospitals can use the funds for purposes as wide ranging as employee bonuses, help with child care, gym memberships and professional development.
“Rural health care workers are the backbone of their communities and play a vital role in helping North Dakota become the healthiest state in the nation,” Pat Traynor, interim commissioner of the North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services, said in a Wednesday announcement. “This funding focuses on keeping skilled professionals in communities that rely on them.”
The Rural Health Transformation Program, part of Congress’s budget reconciliation bill, was advertised as a way to partially make up for funding rural states will lose from Medicaid cuts included elsewhere in the legislation. All states will receive at least $500 million from the program, and can receive up to $1 billion.
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