Arkansas to receive millions in federal funds for rural health | What to know

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Thanks to funding from the federal Rural Health Transformation Program, the state of Arkansas is set to receive $209 million over the course of the next five years.

The program is aimed at improving access to care in communities that need it most.

“It is a one year out of five years of money that’s going to be going towards improving access in rural health care for Arkansas,” described Senator Missy Irvin (R-Mountain View) when the news was announced last week.

According to the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture’s 2025 Rural Profile of Arkansas, nearly 45% of Arkansans live in rural areas.

The same report highlights state challenges such as poor maternal and infant health, obesity, and other issues, which the new funding is designed to address.

“Arkansans are set primed to use this money in a very meaningful and impactful way to really do a lot as it relates to rural health care,” Senator Irvin added.

In response, Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders took to X, where she shared the following statement, which outlined four main initiatives: 

Here’s a look at the complete list below:

• Healthy Eating, Active Recreation, and Transformation (HEART), a program focused on improving health outcomes and access to preventative care by creating a coordinated, community-driven approach to nutrition, physical activity, and chronic disease management.
• Promoting Access Coordination and Transformation (PACT), which integrates specialty care, preventative screenings, telehealth, and trauma-ready services into rural communities while fostering locally-driven clinically integrated networks to improve efficiency, data sharing, and regional collaboration.
• Recruitment Innovation Skills and Education for Arkansas (RISE AR), which strengthens the rural healthcare workforce through expanded physician residencies and other clinical training programs, provides incentives to recruit and retain healthcare professionals in rural Arkansas, and provides training to ensure leaders and board members of local hospitals and clinics are prepared for the transformation required in rural healthcare.
• Telehealth Health Monitoring and Response Innovation for Vital Expansion (THRIVE), which will leverage AI to provide coordinated patient records across delivery systems and fund telehealth platforms, technology-enabled monitoring for chronic diseases, such as diabetes and high blood pressure, and the modernization of emergency medical transport and services.

“It’s important on your mental health, as well as your just physical health, about being engaged, being connected,” Senator Irvin described.

State leaders explained how the goal is simple: make healthcare more accessible for all Arkansans, especially those living far from hospitals and clinics.