Sanders Announces Nearly $150 Million Awarded in Rural Health Transformation Funds

The THRIVE grant recipients are:

• Arkansas Ambulance Association: EMS Coordinated Network for Emergency Navigation, Community Care and Telehealth (EMS-Connect) (statewide) will replace ambulances and add telehealth communications, connectivity and patient-monitoring equipment, data sharing, training, and a Patient Navigation Hub. – $10,000,000.00
• Arkansas Baptist Children’s Homes and Family Ministries: Living Well Rural Connect Initiative (Crittenden, Lee, Union, Jefferson, Ouachita, and Hempstead counties) will expand rural behavioral health access through telebehavioral health services, community access points, secure counselor technology, cloud-based systems, cybersecurity improvements, and startup support. – $423,761.29
• Arkansas Children’s: Rural Health Management Network for Children with Chronic Disease (statewide) will provide remote monitoring and virtual care coordination for rural children with asthma, diabetes, cystic fibrosis, inflammatory bowel disease, and single-ventricle heart disease. – $210,000.00
• Arkansas Rural Health Partnership: Arkansas Rural Emergency Tele-Consultation and EMS Tele-Triage Network (Woodruff, White, Independence, Saline, Monroe, Lonoke, Cross, Prairie, St. Francis, Garland, Miller, Jefferson, Crittenden, Arkansas, Lincoln, Bradley, Grant, Chicot, Ashley, Lee, Phillips, Sebastian, Pulaski, Clay, Randolph, Lawrence, Greene, Fulton, Sevier, Hot Spring, and Howard counties) will equip rural hospitals and EMS providers for emergency teleconsultation and triage, including platform onboarding, workflow development, training, implementation, and evaluation. – $2,245,031.00
• Arkansas Rural Health Partnership: ARHP TECH: Rural Chronic Care Initiative (Polk, Independence, Desha, Dallas, Bradley, Howard, Ashley, Jefferson, Chicot, Hempstead, Union, Phillips, Arkansas, Sevier, Ouachita, Little River, and St. Francis counties) will support technology-enabled chronic disease management through remote patient-monitoring devices, site readiness, patient onboarding, staff training, care coordination, and ZOLL heart-failure monitoring for high-risk patients. – $5,651,924.00
• Community Health Centers of Arkansas, Inc.: Arkansas Community Health Intelligence Platform (Arkansas, Ashley, Baxter, Boone, Bradley, Calhoun, Carroll, Chicot, Clark, Clay, Cleburne, Cleveland, Columbia, Conway, Crawford, Crittenden, Cross, Dallas, Desha, Drew, Franklin, Fulton, Grant, Greene, Hempstead, Hot Spring, Howard, Independence, Izard, Jackson, Jefferson, Johnson, Lafayette, Lawrence, Lee, Lincoln, Little River, Logan, Lonoke, Madison, Marion, Miller, Mississippi, Monroe, Montgomery, Nevada, Newton, Ouachita, Perry, Phillips, Pike, Poinsett, Polk, Prairie, Randolph, Scott, Searcy, Sevier, Sharp, St. Francis, Stone, Union, Van Buren, White, Woodruff, and Yell counties) will build a shared technology platform for Arkansas’ 13 federally qualified health centers, including health information exchange connections, population health analytics, interoperability tools, cybersecurity services, and implementation support. – $1,911,394.00
• Community Health Centers of Arkansas, Inc.: Arkansas FQHC Clinical Decision Support & Specialty Access Initiative (Arkansas, Ashley, Baxter, Boone, Bradley, Calhoun, Carroll, Chicot, Clark, Clay, Cleburne, Cleveland, Columbia, Conway, Crawford, Crittenden, Cross, Dallas, Desha, Drew, Franklin, Fulton, Grant, Greene, Hempstead, Hot Spring, Howard, Independence, Izard, Jackson, Jefferson, Johnson, Lafayette, Lawrence, Lee, Lincoln, Little River, Logan, Lonoke, Madison, Marion, Miller, Mississippi, Monroe, Montgomery, Nevada, Newton, Ouachita, Perry, Phillips, Pike, Poinsett, Polk, Prairie, Randolph, Scott, Searcy, Sevier, Sharp, St. Francis, Stone, Union, Van Buren, White, Woodruff, and Yell counties) will implement VisualDx software, training, and program management to help participating FQHC clinicians diagnose and manage conditions that often require specialty input. – $130,410.00
• University of Arkansas: Rural Access Data Analytics and Resource Platform (statewide) will expand the Arkansas Health Survey into THRIVE RADAR, an interactive rural health dashboard covering providers, telehealth, service gaps, workforce, broadband, transportation, health indicators, and geographic mapping. – $777,351.00
• University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences: Stroke Pathways to Advance Rural Knowledge (SPARK) (24 rural Delta communities in Year 1) will connect communities, EMS, emergency departments, primary care, and stroke specialists through education, virtual neurology decision support, survivor navigation, workflow tools, and performance tracking. – $5,438,244.00
• Wolfe Street Foundation, Inc.: Rural Recovery Connect (Pulaski, Clark, Saline, Faulkner, Sevier, Garland, Hot Spring, Polk, Montgomery, Pope, Grant, Miller, Yell, Franklin, Van Buren, Searcy, Sebastian, Craighead, Logan, and Hempstead counties) will install tablet-based telehealth kiosks, train providers, and offer clinic-supported peer recovery services at rural clinics and detention centers, with later connections from overdose response to peer support. – $369,619.00

The PACT grant recipients are:

• Arkansas Rural Health Partnership: Arkansas Rural Hospital Emergency Power Resilience Initiative 2026 (Hempstead, Ashley, Dallas, Jefferson, Desha, Arkansas, Polk, Johnson, and Cross counties) will purchase and install emergency generators, integrate electrical systems, and conduct testing and preparedness activities so participating rural hospitals can maintain critical services during outages and disasters. – $5,000,000.00
• Arkansas Rural Health Partnership: Arkansas Rural Behavioral Health Access, Safety & Stabilization (PACT-SAFE) Initiative (Polk, Independence, Desha, Dallas, Howard, Ashley, Chicot, Phillips, Arkansas, Sevier, Ouachita, Hempstead, Little River, Drew, Cleburne, Union, Columbia, Clark, and Bradley counties) will expand rural behavioral health crisis response, local treatment capacity, and patient and staff safety in communities facing service gaps, recent trauma, and provider shortages. – $1,455,689.00
• Arkansas Rural Health Partnership: Rural Specialty Care on Command (Drew, Lincoln, Bradley, Columbia, Chicot, Cleveland, Union, Ashley, Clay, Randolph, Lawrence, Sharp, Greene, Fulton, Dallas, Desha, Crittenden, Poinsett, Phillips, Mississippi, Lee, Howard, Monroe, Arkansas, Polk, Ouachita, St. Francis, Logan, Scott, Sebastian, Crawford, Sevier, Hempstead, Jefferson, Pope, Garland, Clark, Faulkner, and Miller counties) will deploy virtual physician carts and portable telemedicine systems in participating rural hospitals to expand specialty consultation, care coordination, and local clinical decision-making while reducing avoidable transfers. – $4,480,877.00
• Doula Alliance of Arkansas: Access Starts at Home: Rural Maternal Care Coordination and Doula Support (statewide) will place 10 certified doulas in partner clinics across Northwest, North Central, Upper Delta, Lower Delta, and Southwest Arkansas and connect participants, doulas, and clinical teams through pregnancy and six months postpartum in partnership with MySwaddle. – $860,500.00
• River Valley Medical Wellness: Driving Integrated Primary Care and Maternal Health to Rural Arkansas (Howard, Little River, Hempstead, Nevada, and Ouachita counties) will launch two regional mobile integrated-care systems with mobile clinics, interdisciplinary teams, hub sites, telehealth, transportation, behavioral health, chronic disease management, preventive screening, substance-use services, patient navigation, and outreach. – $3,500,000.00
• Subiaco Abbey: Health Center Rural Health Access and Care Transformation (Logan County) will improve its on-site Health Center through facility, transportation, telehealth, and workforce investments addressing accessibility, infection control, emergency preparedness, continuity of care, and operations. – $268,500.00
• University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences: Specialty Telehealth Access for Rural Communities in Arkansas (STAR) (Clay, Cross, Fulton, Greene, Lawrence, Mississippi, Poinsett, Randolph, Sharp, Arkansas, Monroe, Phillips, Clark, Hot Spring, Montgomery, Polk, and Sevier counties) will create a telehealth hearing-care network that provides screening, specialist triage, diagnosis, and treatment through community sites and rural clinics. – $1,228,624.00
• University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences: Arkansas Pregnancy Care Connect (Clark, Columbia, Hempstead, Howard, Lafayette, Little River, Miller, Nevada, Ouachita, Pike, Polk, Sevier, Union, Baxter, Boone, Carroll, Fulton, Independence, Izard, Marion, Newton, Searcy, Sharp, and Stone counties, with a statewide advice line) will combine mobile teams serving 24 high-need counties with a 24/7 nurse-led pregnancy and postpartum line providing triage, education, referrals, and escalation support. – $2,986,934.00