The Wyoming Department of Health is receiving similar comments about the state of rural health care from communities across the state as it works to quickly develop a federal grant application.
Officials from the department visited Buffalo on Sept. 18 as part of an effort to assess rural health care needs and input before applying for a portion of the $50 billion allocated to states through the Rural Health Transformation Program established in the One Big Beautiful Bill, the Trump administration’s summer budget package.
Franz Fuchs, deputy director of the Wyoming Health Department, told nearly 20 people at the Bomber Mountain Civic Center on Thursday night that Wyoming is eligible for $500 million to $800 million in federal funding over the next five years.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ website explains the program’s goals, which include improving rural communities’ access to health care, bolstering workforce development, lowering care costs, encouraging technological innovation, and improving preventive health care.
In an interview, Fuchs stated that the identified health care priorities and concerns raised at the Buffalo meeting – staffing shortages caused by housing costs and availability in rural communities, maternal health care deserts, a lack of specialists in proximity, and barriers to behavioral health care – are shared by other communities across the state.
He stated that the department is working on a tight deadline to complete its application.
The application, which was released this week, is due in early November, and the department plans to wrap up its in-person town halls on October 2.
The award decisions are expected to be issued by the end of the year.
“We’re trying to identify the problems we want to solve,” Fuchs told me. “We don’t know what Cheyenne’s problems are, so we need to go out and find out. We’re trying to get as many people as possible, and I believe a diverse group of stakeholders is essential.”
The meeting in Buffalo was attended primarily by local health-care leaders.
The health department facilitated discussions about various aspects of improving health care delivery, such as cost, access, and quality, as well as what should be prioritized.
Participants also discussed the importance of care in rural communities, as well as various challenges, needs, and positive aspects of community health care.
Fuchs stated that the state’s application will focus on statewide solutions rather than targeted programs at specific hospitals or health care facilities across the state.
“We’re not even thinking about how we divide that money right now, we’re just trying to make the best application we can,” he informed me. “We’re asking people for ideas not so we can say, ‘Hey, we’re going to give you this amount of money,’ but we’re asking, is this a good idea, can we generalize it (and) can we apply this for the entire state – let’s really make this a big part of our application.”
The department is also holding virtual town hall meetings and intends to post a survey online to gather feedback and refine Wyoming’s priorities for the application.
