What Is the Rural Health Transformation Program and What Does It Mean for Your Pharmacy?

Overview

The Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP, also referred to as the RHT Program) is a $50 billion federal investment in rural healthcare distributed over five years, from 2026 through 2030. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) provides funding to states, and each state decides which rural healthcare programs to build, who can apply, and which expenses can be funded.

For pharmacies, the opportunity could include funding for clinical technology, care coordination, chronic-disease programs, patient engagement, medical billing infrastructure, equipment, or partnerships with other rural providers.

Since each state sets its own priorities and timelines for funding, the opportunities vary by state, as do the timelines for applications. To add to the confusion, there are opportunities that can be applied for by pharmacies directly, but there are others that require partnerships with organizations like hospitals or clinics, Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) or Emergency Medical Services.

We’re here to help centralize the pharmacy-relevant opportunities as they become available, and help you navigate the RHTP landscape. Check out our RHTP hub for more.

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$50B total federal investment
$10B distributed annually
Five program years: 2026–2030
State-designed eligibility and funding opportunities

Why Rural Health Transformation Matters

Rural healthcare has always faced challenges with access: being within a reasonable distance from hospitals or primary care practitioners is not always possible.

Patients who need clinician support may live hours away from their physician, the nearest hospital, or specialist. This is a real problem because if chronic conditions go untreated, the impact of the subsequent interventions required can further strain the medical system.

Almost 97% of Americans live within 10 miles of a pharmacy, and it’s not news that pharmacies play a critical role as an accessible point of care to their local communities. Pharmacists already see patients between physician visits, notice when medications go unfilled, identify adherence barriers and help patients understand complex treatment plans. The opportunity to increase clinical services offered at pharmacies helps pharmacists practice at the top of their license.

While Rural Health Transformation Program is a rural healthcare initiative that supports programs involving hospitals, EMS, workforce development, technology, chronic care, transportation, and other local priorities, many of these priorities create a meaningful role for pharmacy

What Are The Goals Of The Rural Health Transformation Program?

RHTP is a federal program administered through the CMS that provides states with the flexibility to design their own rural health transformation plans. It’s organized around five strategic goals:

1. Support rural health innovations and new access points to care.
2. Help rural providers become long-term sustainable access points.
3. Develop the workforce by helping healthcare professionals practice at the top of their license.
4. Spark the growth of innovative care models.
5. Drive the use of innovative technologies that enhance care delivery.

Each of these goals touches pharmacy, the funding opportunities depend on which objectives your state has prioritized.

Priorities, eligible applicants, geographic requirements, deadlines, match requirements, allowable costs, and partnership structure all vary by state. So, some states might be focused on rural hospitals and EMS, while others are funding chronic-disease programs, technology adoption, remote monitoring, or care coordination.

What Does The Pathway to RHTP Funding Look Like?

A pharmacy’s role in the application and funding pathway could look different depending on the opportunity. For example, a pharmacy could:

• Apply directly
• Lead a provider coalition
• Be a clinical partner under a hospital or clinic
• Be a subcontractor delivering pharmacy services
• Be a participating site in a regional program
• Be a technology customer using approved grant funding

Can Pharmacies Apply for RHTP Funding?

Yes. Some opportunities explicitly name pharmacies as eligible applicants. Others use broader terms that encompass pharmacies, like healthcare providers, rural health facilities, community organizations, or clinical partners.

Before building an application, here’s what to confirm from the state RFA/RFP itself:

• Can pharmacies apply independently, or do they need to apply as a group alongside other organizations?
• Does your pharmacy need a physical location in the state?
• Are there EIN (Employer Identification Number) or NPI (National Provider Identifier) requirements for each participant?
• Is the program limited to certain counties or rural designations?
• Is an applicant funding match required (i.e. a portion of the cost that the applicant must contribute themselves), and if so, how much is required?
• What costs are eligible for funding?

The Rural Health Information Hub’s “Am I Rural?” tool can help assess federal rural designations, but your eligibility still comes from the specific state opportunity itself.

What Can RHTP Funding Cover?

Allowable costs vary by state and initiative, but past funding has supported:

• Clinical software and technology
• Equipment and diagnostic tools
• Technology integrations
• Remote patient monitoring
• Patient-engagement infrastructure
• Care-coordination programs
• Workforce education and training
• Implementation support
• Transportation or telehealth access
• Clinical-service expansion
• Reporting and evaluation infrastructure
• And more!

Some states only cover part of the project cost and require the applicant to cover a portion of the cost as well. It’s important to create a financial plan around how the funding will be used based on the exact state requirements, and build sustainability into that model from day one.

Why Pharmacy Fits the RHTP Opportunity

Pharmacies already sit at the intersection of medications, chronic conditions, patient access, and ongoing follow-up. Within a state rural health program, that creates natural entry points.

A pharmacy could help a rural provider group:

• Reach patients who miss follow-up appointments
• Reconcile medications after hospital discharge
• Identify adherence or affordability barriers
• Deliver immunizations and preventive services
• Support point-of-care testing
• Monitor patients between physician visits
• Document medication-related interventions
• Coordinate recommendations with the care team
• Deliver eligible clinical services closer to home

Most of that work is already happening. RHTP creates a path to fund the infrastructure that makes it documentable, billable, and sustainable.

Common RHTP Opportunities for Pharmacies

Every state has a different plan, but several pharmacy-relevant themes appear across state initiatives.

Chronic-Disease Management and Medication Management

Rural patients managing diabetes, hypertension, COPD, heart failure, and other chronic conditions often need support between physician visits. Depending on the state program, a pharmacy can provide medication reconciliation, adherence support, clinical assessments, care-plan follow-up, or structured medication-management services.

How MedMe Helps:

• Structured Clinical Workflows: MedMe’s Pharmacy EHR supports scheduling, patient intake, assessments, encounter documentation, and follow-up within one clinical workflow.
• Real-Time Note Drafting: The Clinical Assistant’s AI Scribe drafts structured visit notes based on the pharmacist-patient consultation for pharmacist review and sign-off, saving up to 10-12 minutes per encounter.
• Voice-Based Patient Engagement: Patient Concierge supports phone-based appointment booking, reminders, refill prompts, adherence check-ins, and common patient questions, through natural conversation, using AI.

Point-of-Care Testing and Test-to-Treat

Some states are investing in preventive care, infectious-disease testing, or expanded pharmacy-based clinical services. Where permitted by state scope of practice and the specific funding opportunity, pharmacies may be able to deliver testing and treatment workflows for conditions such as influenza, COVID-19, strep throat, or urinary tract infections.

How MedMe Helps:

• Consistent Service Workflows: MedMe’s Pharmacy EHR supports structured intake, assessments, test-result documentation, encounter notes, and patient instructions.
• Billing Workflows: Supporting documentation can remain connected to medical claims workflows for separately eligible clinical services.
• Patient Follow-Up: Patient Concierge supports phone-based appointment reminders and follow-up communication after the encounter, through natural conversation, using AI.

Post-Discharge and Transitional Care

A patient leaving the hospital may return home with new medications, discontinued therapies, changed doses, and several follow-up instructions. Pharmacies can help identify discrepancies, clarify protocol changes, support adherence, and communicate unresolved issues to the patient’s care team.

How MedMe Helps:

• Close the Follow-Up Loop: Patient Concierge supports phone-based appointment booking, reminders, and outreach to recently discharged patients, through natural conversation, using AI.
• Structured Visit Documentation: The Clinical Assistant’s AI Scribe drafts a structured note based on the pharmacist-patient consultation for pharmacist review.
• Longitudinal Clinical Record: MedMe’s Pharmacy EHR keeps encounter documentation, provider communication, patient outreach, and follow-up history within one record.

Remote Patient Monitoring Follow-Up

Remote patient monitoring may allow a care team to review information like blood pressure, blood glucose, weight, or oxygen saturation while the patient remains at home. Pharmacies can support the follow up: reaching out to the patient, documenting the intervention, and coordinating with the rest of the care team.

How MedMe Helps:

• Post-Alert Documentation: After an alert is reviewed in an external RPM or telehealth platform, the resulting pharmacy consultation or intervention can be documented in MedMe as a central source of truth of the patient information.
• Structured Care Plans: MedMe’s Pharmacy EHR maintains the assessment, intervention, escalation, care-plan change, and required follow-up.
• Patient Outreach: Patient Concierge supports appointment booking, reminders, and recurring patient check-ins through natural conversation, using AI.

MedMe does not provide RPM devices or telehealth infrastructure, but it supports the pharmacy’s role in documenting and managing follow-up after those interactions occur.

Care Coordination and Administrative Efficiency

Many rural providers are working across disconnected scheduling, intake, clinical, billing, and reporting systems. Some state programs specifically prioritize technology that improves coordination or reduces repetitive administrative work.

How MedMe Helps

• One Clinical Workflow: MedMe connects scheduling, digital intake, consultation documentation, care plans, follow-up, and eligible medical-billing workflows into one EHR system.
• Automated Patient Interactions: Patient Concierge handles appointment booking, reminders, adherence check-ins, refill prompts, and common questions, through natural conversation, using AI.
• Reduced Manual Data Entry: Admin Clerk automates repetitive back-office tasks like data entry across disconnected systems. It connects systems like vaccine registries to the MedMe platform, so you only have to update information once.

What Clinical Infrastructure Does a Pharmacy Need?

A strong application shows the state how the pharmacy will identify patients, reach them, deliver care, document encounters, coordinate with other providers, and deliver the required reporting.

A traditional Pharmacy Management System (PMS) is designed primarily for dispensing. It doesn’t provide the scheduling, structured documentation, patient engagement, medical billing, and program reporting required for expanded clinical services.

MedMe works alongside your PMS to help deliver clinical services.

Clinical Readiness: MedMe vs. a Traditional PMS‍

Note: Connectivity with external EHRs, HIEs, telehealth platforms, RPM tools, or state systems depends on the specific integrations, APIs, vendors, and data-sharing agreements in place.

Long-Term Sustainability: What Happens When the Grant Ends?

RHTP funding is time-limited. The infrastructure you build during the funding period doesn’t disappear when the grant ends. A pharmacy that exits the grant period with established clinical workflows, a documented patient history, active billing relationships, and real outcomes data is well positioned to continue serving their community. The strongest applications show how the clinical program will keep going after the grant period closes.

A sustainable clinical program typically draws from a combination of:

• Expanded clinical-service volume
• Value-based or care-coordination arrangements
• Reimbursement for eligible clinical services
• New payer or provider contracts
• Reduced administrative work, so staff can focus on patients
• Improved patient retention

How to Prepare for an RHTP Opportunity

State application windows may move quickly, but preparation should begin before the application opens.

Step 1: Find the Right State Initiative

Review your state health department’s RHTP plan and active funding opportunities.

Every state is taking a different approach. The strongest pharmacy applications connect a clear rural care gap with a credible care model, the right provider partners, and infrastructure that can keep going after funding ends.

Step 2: Confirm Your Application Role

Determine whether your pharmacy can:

• Apply directly
• Lead a provider group
• Join another applicant’s coalition
• Participate as a subcontractor
• Serve as a funded clinical partner

Confirm geographic, Employer Identification Number (EIN), National Provider Identifier (NPI), licensing, contracting, and rural-location requirements.

Step 3: Start with a real care gap.

The strongest applications start with a real clinical problem, for example:

• Patients missing post-discharge follow-up
• Chronic conditions going unmanaged between appointments
• Referrals not reaching the pharmacy
• Staff spending hours on manual data entry

Step 4: Build the financial plan early.

Confirm what the grant can fund, whether a match is required by your business, which costs are excluded, and what the path to sustainability looks like after the grant ends. For most pharmacies, that answer is medical billing: revenue the pharmacist generates by delivering care, not just dispensing medication.

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