Arkansas is set to receive $208,779,396 in Fiscal Year 2026 to strengthen rural healthcare under President Trump’s Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP), Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced. The program, part of the President’s One, Big, Beautiful Bill, will distribute $50 billion nationwide across five years to improve health services, medical workforce stability, and patient outcomes in rural America.
Governor Sanders praised the award, calling it a major step toward “Making America Healthy Again” and ensuring rural residents receive equitable access to care.
“Our state went above and beyond in the application process to secure an outsized portion of the funds,” Sanders said. “Arkansas’ smaller communities deserve just as much support as any other region of our state, and I’m excited to get to work quickly on Arkansas’ innovative approach to this program and deliver the care our people deserve.”
The funding application—submitted October 31 by Governor Sanders and the Department of Finance and Administration—was developed with input from healthcare professionals, hospitals, pharmacists, nurses, educators, nonprofits, and more than 300 public submissions through an online portal.
Key Arkansas Initiatives Funded Under RHTP
The state’s strategy focuses on four major health improvement programs:
• HEART – Healthy Eating, Active Recreation, and Transformation
Expands community-based nutrition, fitness access, and preventive care to reduce chronic disease.
• PACT – Promoting Access Coordination and Transformation
Improves specialty care, trauma readiness, data sharing, and telehealth integration across rural regions.
• RISE AR – Recruitment Innovation Skills and Education for Arkansas
Grows and retains the rural medical workforce through expanded residencies, incentives, and leadership training.
• THRIVE – Telehealth Health Monitoring and Response Innovation for Vital Expansion
Funds telehealth platforms, AI-enabled patient records, remote monitoring tech for chronic disease, and EMS modernization.
Specific funding allocations to each initiative will be released in a future update.
The award builds on Governor Sanders’ ongoing health-focused policies, including maternal care expansion, free breakfast in public schools, food insecurity reduction projects, and statewide outdoor recreation initiatives encouraging healthier lifestyles for Arkansas families.
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