MindCare Now

MindCare Now is sponsored by New Jersey Department of Health's Rural Health Transformation Program. This initiative, supported by a grant from the New Jersey Department of Health's Rural Health Transformation Program, is designed to expand timely, accessible virtual mental and behavioral health services for uninsured and underinsured residents in Hunterdon County (under State …

State officials plan to invest nearly $150 million in new federal funding to strengthen New Jersey’s rural health care system and improve outcomes in areas that tend to have above-average health risks but fewer options for treatment.

The state intends to use the Rural Health Transformation Program to expand and strengthen the health care workforce, improve access to preventative care and chronic disease management, and use technology to better link people with clinical services. The first round of funding will be distributed through competitive grants to local governments, health care providers, nonprofit groups, and community organizations.

While New Jersey is the nation’s most densely populated state, more than 1 million residents live in an area that’s considered rural under the state’s definition. Rural residents face longer travel times to find doctors and higher rates of smoking, drug use, and some cancers, according to astate health assessment.

The funding is the first infusion under thefederal program,which provides $50 billion nationwide over five years to improve access to care and raise the health of rural Americans. The initiative was included in legislation signed last summer by President Donald Trump that also gutted federal dollars for Medicaid, food stamps, and other social services.

Those cutsare expected to cost New Jersey billions in the years to come and could force hundreds of thousands of people out of Medicaid, which is called NJ Family Care in the Garden State.

“As New Jersey faces unprecedented federal disruptions to healthcare coverage and funding, the Rural Health Transformation Program is a critical opportunity to strengthen our healthcare system, foster collaboration, and invest in innovative solutions that improve health outcomes for communities across the state,”Department of Human Services spokesman Tom Hester told the New Jersey Monitor.

Human Services will oversee $40 million of the grants this year, Hester said, while $107 million will be administered by the state Department of Health. Hester said initial funding should begin to flow within the coming months. The Health Department is now reviewing applications for nearly $28 million in sub-grants, Health Commissioner Raynard Washington told the Senate Budget Committee earlier this month.

While New Jersey has relatively few designated rural areas, state officials said it is receiving one of the highest ratios of funding, roughly$1,000 per rural resident. “Our sub-grant program will support rural health infrastructure and expand access to tele-health services.

It’ll grow the rural clinical workforce and strengthen prevention and treatment services in federally designated rural communities throughout the state,” he told lawmakers. The additional funding is a bright spot in the Health Department’s proposed budget, which would see a3. 6% funding reductionin the plan proposed by Gov. Mikie Sherrill, now under review by the Legislature.

The spending proposal, which would cover the fiscal year that begins July 1, calls foreliminating or reducing fundingfor dozens of nonprofit and health care organizations, programs that are priorities for some lawmakers. “So we have federal rural health funding coming in, but it seems fewer community health grants going out,” Sen. Douglas Steinhardt (R-Warren) said at the hearing.

Steinhardt’s district, in the state’s rural northwest, also includes parts of Hunterdon and Somerset counties. Steinhardt pressed Washington for details on the grants, suggesting New Jersey could have received more, and about the timeline for their distribution.

Former Gov. Phil Murphy sought $1 billion, or $200 million annually, when he submitted thestate’s applicationto program administrators with the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in November. “Given the sparsity of the aid, my concern is that the dollars aren’t reaching the rural communities for which they are intended,” Steinhardt said.

Washington assured him the Health Department is pushing to get the funding out the door. Applications for funding under four sub-grant programs were due in late January, according to thestate’s grant requirements, which is silent on when funding would be distributed but notes the first reporting period was set to run Feb. 1 to April 30.

“There were delays in awarding the grants federally across the country, but there was no extension allowed for getting the work done,” Washington added. The first tranche of grant programs will provide $8 million to expand access to preventative health programs.

Another $9 million is set aside for programs that encourage the use of tele-health, use of blood-pressure cuffs and remote monitoring to help people with heart conditions, and other technology. Two programs designed to help train and retain health care workers will receive $10. 5 million, combined.

Initial awards will also focus on beefing up rural hospital capacity, strengthening the EMS and dispatch system and expanding access to doulas, or non-clinical birth coaches who have shown to reduce maternal and infant mortality and complications. In his letter, Murphy said partnerships with tech startups, academic institutions and hospitals would support this work.