SNF-Tied Rural Health Transformation Funds Going to Vt.

The Trump Administration on Sept. 10 said that an $11.7 million investment is being delivered to support rural nursing care facilities and strengthen the healthcare workforce across rural communities in Vermont through the federal Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP).

This marks the first time RHTP monies have been directed specifically to the SNF sector out of more than a dozen such announcements in recent weeks. The program was announced last November and garnered interest from the long-term care sector.

Vermont is committing $9 million of the RHTP funds to provide tuition benefits to healthcare professionals in underserved or hard-to-fill positions who commit to serving rural communities within the state for at least five years after graduation.

CMS said the remaining $2.7 million provides funding for three rural nursing homes to increase their capacity to serve residents with complex medical issues and four community partners to increase training of Licensed Nursing Assistants (LNA) to serve in rural healthcare and long-term care settings across the state.

These investments help to address workforce shortages and increase access to health professionals in nursing, dentistry, mental health, and emergency medical services throughout rural Vermont. Investments in the recruitment and retention of LNAs will help strengthen the sustainability of Vermont’s long-term care system, which currently relies on expensive traveler/agency staffing, CMS said.

Projects supported by this funding include:

• Increasing access to high-quality medical care in nursing homes: Funds will be used to purchase ventilators to further increase rural Vermont’s ability to provide this care in nursing homes.

• Expanding rural care innovation: Funding will be used to open a “dialysis den” in a Vermont nursing home, helping residents and community members receive dialysis in their own community, instead of having to travel long distances for treatment.

• Strengthening the rural health workforce: Increasing recruitment and retention of LNAs and expanding training opportunities within the field to strengthen student readiness and career success.

  
  

Comments or questions? Contact Patrick Connole at pconnole@parkplacelive.com.