Louisiana’s rural hospitals set to get help from a federal funding initiative 

Louisiana is set to receive $208 million in new federal funding aimed at stabilizing and modernizing rural hospitals, Louisiana Illuminator writes. 

The money is a part of a sweeping $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program created under Republicans’ recently enacted tax and spending law. Nearly 1.1 million Louisianans live in rural parishes, where more than one-third rely on Medicaid and more than one-fifth are covered by Medicare, making the state especially vulnerable to cuts in federal health programs.

The five-year initiative, administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is designed to offset the financial strain rural providers are expected to face after major Medicaid reductions. Half of the national funding pool will be distributed evenly across all states, while the remainder will be awarded based on how aggressively states move to improve rural access, expand health care workforces and modernize care delivery.

But analysts warn the program may only cover a fraction of the projected Medicaid losses facing rural communities over the next decade. 

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