A Federal Boost for Rural Health

Approved under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (Section 71401), the federal government allocated $50 billion nationwide from 2026 to 2030 to improve rural health access and quality.

Over five years, North Dakota is expected to receive funding to support efforts to expand care access, strengthen the workforce, and modernize rural health infrastructure.

Four Key Areas of Investment

North Dakota’s RHTP outlines a statewide roadmap to stabilize, sustain, and modernize health care – particularly for tribal, frontier, and other rural communities. Funding will drive progress across four main focus areas (the dollar amount is a total for five years:

• Strengthen and Stabilize the Health Care Workforce 
  Build “grow-your-own” pipelines, expand residencies, and enhance recruitment and training for a high-skilled rural workforce.

• Make North Dakota Healthy Again 
  Promote community health initiatives like Eat Well ND and ND Moves Together, tackling nutrition, activity, and chronic disease prevention.

• Bring High-Quality Care Closer to Home 
  Expand telehealth, mobile clinics, remote patient monitoring, and care coordination to ensure access to care across the state.

• Connect Tech, Data, and Providers 
  Modernize technology and data sharing infrastructure to create efficiencies and strengthen collaboration among providers.