December 29, 2025 LDH announces Rural Health Transformation Funding

Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Dec 29, 2025 - The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) is announcing that Louisiana will receive over $208 million through the Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP), established under President Trump’s Working Families Tax Cuts legislation. Louisiana’s award amount is among the highest in the Nation, and among the top three in the Southeast. 

Nearly 1.1 million Louisiana residents live in rural parishes, with 37% covered by Medicaid and 22% covered by Medicare. Rural parishes face persistent structural disadvantages, including limited industry diversification and economic opportunities, and higher unemployment. 

LDH will implement groundbreaking initiatives that will have a long-lasting impact on healthcare for rural Louisiana citizens, improving access to care and healthcare delivery across the state, strengthening local healthcare systems, embedding technology in rural communities, and expanding workforce capacity.  

Through this effort, LDH will provide resources, facilitate collaboration across agencies, and reinforce state policy changes needed to address pressing healthcare disparities, with the goal of enhancing the sustainability of rural healthcare providers and ensuring rural residents can access high-quality care close to home. 

“The use of this funding will transform lives through innovative approaches to improve healthcare access in rural communities across the state,” said Secretary Bruce D. Greenstein. “I’m incredibly thankful to President Trump and the Louisiana delegation for this award. LDH is dedicated to improving health outcomes across the state, and this funding allows us to focus on a piece of the state that hasn’t received the attention it needs.” 

The program targets residents facing the greatest barriers—those with chronic disease, behavioral health needs, perinatal risks, or cancer disparities—while also investing in the providers, workforce, and infrastructure needed for lasting impact. 

Key groups include:

• Rural residents with chronic or complex conditions—including hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and obesity—experiencing higher prevalence rates, greater disease burden, and higher healthcare costs than urban populations.
• Priority populations that require coordinated care, such as individuals with behavioral health needs, perinatal or postpartum risks, and cancer vulnerabilities, facing major gaps in early detection, care management, and treatment access that contribute to preventable mortality.
• Rural healthcare workforce facing persistent recruitment and retention challenges that limit capacity, including clinicians, nurses, community health workers, and emergency personnel.
• Rural healthcare facilities and providers—including rural health clinics (RHCs), Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), and community-based organizations—requiring support to sustain operations, upgrade infrastructure, expand telehealth, adopt electronic health records (EHRs), and implement innovative care models such as paramedicine and medically tailored meal programs. 

Julie Foster Hagan, Executive Director for the Rural Health Transformation Program, will lead the implementation of the funding. 

“I look forward to working closely with rural communities across the state to build relationships and to use this amazing funding opportunity to change how healthcare is provided and accessed in those communities,” said Foster Hagan.