Maine
Rural Health Transformation Program- Program
- Maine
- First-year award
- $190,008,051 (CMS)
- Lead agency
- Maine Department of Health and Human Services
- Program page
- maine.gov/dhhs/ruralhealth
- Contact
- The program office's contact details
- Where the plan names technology
- Maine's program page says its Technology & Innovation initiative "supports telehealth, health information exchange, digital health tools, electronic medical record modernization, and the responsible adoption of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence." MCD Global Health, the state's contracted partner for the initiative, lists a Rural Health AI Hub, "A statewide center of excellence for evaluating, piloting, and scaling AI tools," as coming soon, and its FAQ says the current digital health round "covers telehealth expansion and patient-facing digital tools only."
- AI named in the plan
- Yes
- Funding rounds
- Open Remote Patient Monitoring: Adult Chronic Disease and Perinatal (grant); opened Oct 5, 2026, deadline Nov 2, 2026; eligible: Home health agencies and health care organizations in Maine that can enroll and support remote monitoring patients
- Open Provider-to-Provider Specialty Consultations (grant); opened Oct 5, 2026, deadline Nov 2, 2026; eligible: Primary care organizations that serve rural Maine providers or underserved populations
- Open Teledentistry (grant); opened Sept 29, 2026, deadline Oct 26, 2026; eligible: Schools, primary care-based oral health providers and dental practices legally operating in Maine
- Open Nursing Home Telehealth (grant); opened Sept 25, 2026, deadline Oct 22, 2026; eligible: Nursing facilities operating in Maine
- Open Youth Tele-Behavioral Health (subaward for a specialty telehealth provider); opened Sept 18, 2026, deadline Oct 16, 2026; eligible: Providers operating in Maine that employ credentialed clinicians licensed in Maine and enroll in MaineCare
- Closed Electronic medical record (EMR) modernization funds; approximately $30 million in Year 1; opened Jul 20, 2026, deadline Aug 14, 2026; eligible: Critical access hospitals, general hospitals with an emergency department, hospital-owned primary care practices and rural health clinics, independent rural health clinics, independent rural primary care practices, FQHCs and look-alikes, CCBHCs and opioid treatment programs
- Closed Maine Healthcare Careers Exploration Program; $500,000, with awards of up to $125,000 each; opened Jul 10, 2026, deadline Aug 4, 2026; eligible: School-based organizations serving grades 9 to 12, and community-based organizations partnering with them
- Open Perinatal Specialty Telehealth (grant); opened Sept 29, 2026; eligible: Rural care sites serving perinatal patients; a Labor and Delivery unit is not required
- Open Youth Tele-Behavioral Health (grant for schools); eligible: Rural Maine schools, school districts and school units that can provide a private space for telehealth appointments
- Upcoming Mammha participating sites (grant); eligible: Maine clinical or social service providers serving perinatal patients
- Awards
- Jul 31, 2026: $30 million to 11 rural hospitals. The Rural Hospital Efficiency Fund, run with the Office of Affordable Health Care, gives participating hospitals about $3 million for technical assistance and planning, then about $27 million for approved efficiency projects, from September 2026 through August 2027. Announcement
- Jul 31, 2026: $12 million to University of New England's Shaw Institute for Public and Planetary Health. A partnership to expand community health workers across Maine's nine public health districts and to carry out evidence-based practices, with UNE soliciting proposals from partners. Announcement
- Next
- MCD Global Health hosts the technology applications and also seeks vendors under professional service agreements for automated text messaging, virtual quick care, nursing home telehealth, teledentistry, provider-to-provider consults and remote patient monitoring, with closing dates from Oct. 28 to Nov. 6, 2026. Its digital health page gives two closing dates, Oct. 23 and Oct. 30, for the perinatal telehealth grant, and two schedules for the schools grant. EMR applicants requested more than $29.4 million. MCD's Oct. 5 FAQ says it is developing an AI Resource Hub for the state, "including releasing a funding opportunity for an AI Innovation Institute"; it gives no date. The program page also lists $28.5 million for the transition to alternative payment models, with no solicitation posted, and offers email sign-up for updates.
Sources: CMS, first-year awards, Maine DHHS program page, Maine DHHS, EMR funding, MCD Global Health, Maine RHTP, MCD Global Health, digital health opportunities, MCD Global Health, digital health FAQ, MCD Global Health, EMR modernization, Maine DOE, careers exploration notice, Maine DHHS, Rural Hospital Efficiency Fund, Maine DHHS, UNE partnership
Checked against its sources
What the money can pay for: What does the Rural Health Transformation Program pay for?.
The weekly letter, free, by email, with the daily briefing if you want it. Sign up with your NPI.