The vendor required to provide rural health transformation program (RHTP) for include:
- Workforce pipeline coordination
• Develop and implement a statewide strategy to coordinate workforce pipeline activities among high schools, career technical schools, community colleges, universities, and healthcare employers.
• Deliver career awareness and exploration programs targeting rural high school students.
• Establish and support rural work-based learning, apprenticeships, and career placement agreements.
• Align efforts with existing federal and state workforce development and financial aid programs.
• Prioritize placements in RHTP-funded facilities and partner programs.
- Community health worker (CHW) up-skilling
• Design and deliver training programs for CHWs in collaboration with RHTP-funded projects.
• Focus on rural-specific competencies, including the use of consumer-facing technology and remote monitoring tools for chronic disease management and healthy lifestyle promotion.
- Pharmacist up-skilling
• Provide training to pharmacists to operate at the top of their license.
• Support state policy initiative for point-of-care test-to-treat models through targeted education and practice transformation.
- Recruitment and retention incentives
• Administer rural recruitment and retention incentive programs.
• Provide 6-month housing stipends for healthcare professionals who commit to a minimum 5-year service in rural communities.
• Target a broad range of healthcare roles, including but not limited to:
o Physicians
o Nurses
o Pharmacists
o Therapists
o Dietitians
o Behavioral health providers
o Oral health professionals
o Optometrists
o Audiologists,
o Community healthcare workers
- Continuing medical education (CME)
• Develop and disseminate CME resources for physicians, with a focus on nutrition education to support upcoming policy changes requiring CME in this area.
- Budget: $10,000,000.00
- Contract Period/Term: 2 years
- Bidder Conference Meeting Date: January 13, 2026
- Questions/Inquires Deadline: January 2, 2026
