States Just Got $50 Billion for Rural Health. Here’s Why Healthcare Workforce Data Should Be a Top Priority

Freedman HealthCare (FHC) has supported multiple states in developing and implementing their Rural Health Transformation Programs. FHC specializes in integrated health data systems, healthcare measurement and benchmarking, and workforce data infrastructure and reporting.

By Ena Backus, MPP, Senior Consultant, and Mary Jo Condon, MPPA, Vice President

Across the United States, the supply of primary and preventive care falls short of community need. With fewer clinicians entering primary care than required, and even fewer practicing full time, access challenges grow. These challenges pose particular concerns in rural and other underserved communities where mortality rates and preventable deaths from injury and disease outpace better-served and urban areas. One problem is states have long underinvested in health care workforce improvement initiatives, including systems for tracking the health care workforce and modeling future needs. In recent years, during and following COVID-19, states have passed more than 500 bills aimed at addressing the health care access crisis. Yet too often, policymakers lacked timely and accurate information to inform their efforts. In our work supporting states, we see this gap up close: states know they have provider shortages, but too often lack the granular, timely data to fully understand where the gaps are, which professions are most affected, and whether their interventions are working.

Opportunity

The Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP), established as part of House Resolution (H.R.) 1, provides $50 billion in funding over five years to states to improve rural health. All 50 states received their first-year awards from CMS in December 2025 and are now standing up their approved programs. CMS has also established a new Office of Rural Health Transformation to oversee the initiative and will be closely monitoring state progress. One of CMS’s five goals for the program is workforce development. States interested in improving rural healthcare are likely to have a significant need for data to identify the greatest opportunities for improving access. And, perhaps more importantly, states need strong data to monitor and evaluate the outcomes of their RHT Program-supported workforce development efforts.

Where to Focus: Four High-Impact Workforce Data Investments

A recent report authored by Freedman HealthCare and published by the Milbank Memorial Fund summarizes state priorities for advancing health care workforce data and analysis and provides a practical roadmap for implementation. With additional funding and support through the RHTP, states can both accelerate and advance workforce data strengthening efforts. Drawing on that roadmap and our direct experience supporting RHTP planning and implementation, we see four high-impact areas states should focus on:

1. Implementing consistent data collection (e.g., survey implementation software, robust licensing system software, etc.)
2. Integrating fragmented data to develop a holistic picture of the health care workforce across licensing boards, enrollment and graduation records, residency and fellowship match data, and all-payer claims databases, for example.
3. Collecting more extensive data on non-licensed providers will support implementing innovative care delivery models.
4. Improving cross-state comparability of data, through the use of common frameworks, such as the Cross-Profession Minimum Data Set, will better identify and monitor workforce shortages, improving funding allocation nationwide

Why This Matters for State Leaders

The RHTP is a cooperative agreement, which means that CMS will be evaluating state performance throughout the five-year grant period. Funding in Years 2 through 5 is not guaranteed. States that can demonstrate measurable progress will be in a stronger position to secure continued funding. Improving healthcare workforce data positions states to:

1. Conduct supply and demand modeling to better inform RHTP programs and transformation strategies.
2. Identify and monitor professions facing potential shortages (e.g., primary care, behavioral health) and non-licensed but essential care providers (e.g., direct care workers) providing the baseline data CMS will expect to see in progress reports and outcome evaluations.
3. Inform and prioritize policies related to recruitment and retention, ranging from payment design and reimbursement levels to grants and loan repayment. Without data to track whether providers practice and/or stay in rural areas, states will struggle to show CMS that the RHTP is producing sustainable results.

Investing in data infrastructure requires focus, sustained resources, and patience, but offers reward. Rural providers and their communities are those most acutely impacted by workforce shortages. Investing in workforce data collection, analysis, and reporting upfront will provide rural areas with a legacy of insight and investment to support the rural health care workforce, improve access to care, and health outcomes.

Have questions about how your state can strengthen its healthcare workforce data infrastructure using RHTP funding? We’d love to hear from you.

Reach out to us at [email protected] or [email protected].