The new Rural Health Transformation Program aims to improve “healthcare access, quality, and outcomes” with $50 billion aimed at making changes to the healthcare delivery ecosystem. Keeping an eye on the state applications, the federal money awarded and how it will be used is Sarah Jane Tribble, lead rural health reporter at KFF Health News.

On this episode of “Conversations on Health Care,” hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Tribble as she offers a clear-eyed look at what this funding can and cannot do.

“This funding came as part of the big tax and spending bill, at a moment when rural America was facing deep Medicaid cuts,” Tribble explains. “The conversation in Congress was that this would help make up for those losses.”

But she warns that transparency and accountability will determine whether the program succeeds.

“I want to see the full applications posted publicly,” Tribble says. “We need to be able to hold officials accountable and make sure rural Americans are actually getting the benefit Congress intended.”

The conversation also surfaces some unexpected ideas tucked inside state proposals. From drones delivering prescriptions in Alaska to robotics improving maternity care in Alabama, states are experimenting with technology to reach communities where in-person care is scarce and broadband access remains unreliable.

At the heart of the discussion is a larger question about expectations.

“I don’t want anyone to hear ‘better than nothing’ when we talk about rural health care,” Tribble says. “I don’t want my grandmother or my mother to have better than nothing. I want them to have the best standard of care.”

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