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Rural communities across Colorado will train and retain healthcare workers, expand mobile healthcare clinics and adopt modern electronic health record systems — among other priorities — through nearly $170 million in federal grant funds aimed at improving access to care for rural residents.
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The grants, announced Monday by Gov. Jared Polis and the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, are part of Colorado’s Rural Health Transformation Program. Competing against other states for dollars, Colorado received more than $200 million in federal grant funding the Trump administration carved out in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act specifically to advance rural healthcare.
In the grant program’s first year, the state Health Care Policy and Financing Department — which received the grant money from the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services — chose to fund 91 applicants in rural Colorado. The money is slated to support 250 projects.
The program drew 112 applications that altogether asked for $250 million in funding to help roll out 368 projects, according to a news release from Polis’ office. The Health Care Policy and Financing Department weighed factors such as the strength of the projects and programs, how far their impact would go and the different kinds of healthcare providers involved.
“This funding will give rural healthcare providers some relief and help protect healthcare access across rural Colorado,” Polis said in a statement.
The grants will be renewable for five years as long as grant recipients fulfill their obligations. However, dollar amounts could fluctuate based on the amount of money the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services allocates to Colorado yearly, according to Michelle Mills, CEO of the Colorado Rural Health Center.
Among the groups awarded the largest grants:
- Salud Family Health in northeastern and southeastern Colorado is receiving a $8.4 million grant.
- San Luis Valley Health’s Regional Medical Center is getting a grant worth close to $7.9 million.
- Middle Park Health in Grand County is receiving a $7.7 million grant.
- Porch Light Health with 30 locations across Colorado is being awarded a $6.6 million grant.
- Valley-Wide Health Systems in 14 rural counties is getting a grant worth nearly $6.4 million.
The dollars come at a time of deep strain for both rural healthcare systems and residents, with nearly half of Colorado’s 43 rural hospitals operating at a deficit and many patients reliant on Medicare and Medicaid, Mills said.
Mills said she hopes the grants will drive opportunities for innovation and collaboration.
“I’m really hopeful that folks are going to be able to expand services that are needed in their communities and make investments in things like equipment upgrades, other technology that will make access to care better and easier and ultimately improve outcomes for patients,” she said.
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Colorado Mountain College, the only institution of higher education to net grant funding, will use an annual $1.9 million to train more than 200 healthcare professionals over the next five years. The college, which received the funding in partnership with seven hospitals, is also the only institution of higher education with a physical presence in mountain communities like Vail, Aspen, Glenwood Springs and Rifle. Its programs have become a major training ground for critical healthcare positions in those mountain towns, according to Colorado Mountain College President Matt Gianneschi.
Grant dollars will allow the college to add eight or nine new positions, including faculty and support staff, to expand some healthcare programs and bring back others the institution previously paused.
Among the college’s top priorities is doubling the number of students in its two-year radiology program, which launched with a capacity of 12 students this fall. Colorado Mountain College initially had enough faculty to accept a new class of students every other year. With the grant money, the college will now be able to enroll a new cohort every year, Gianneschi said. Students can pursue an associate’s degree with the goal of becoming a radiology technician or earn a bachelor’s degree and become qualified for a career in advanced imaging.
Colorado Mountain College will also reintroduce its surgical technician program, what Gianneschi describes as “a critical need” for rural hospitals, and a certification for instrument sterilization.
Those positions, desperately needed by local hospitals trying to care for aging populations in mountain towns, offer students a shot at a living wage, Gianneschi said.
“For many of our folks, this is a once-in-a-career kind of opportunity to have the kind of impact that they’ve always dreamed of in supporting their communities,” he said.
The grant will also give the college a boost in continuing to meet the needs of local economies, which are increasingly relying on healthcare, Gianneschi said.
“We exist to ensure that the mountain communities have the workforce that they need to survive, to exist, to thrive,” he said, adding that the outcomes from the funding will be “truly transformational” in rural Colorado.
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