Connecticut's RHT Plan will modernize rural health delivery by investing in shared technology infrastructure, predictive analytics, facility upgrades, digital inclusion, and telehealth expansion. - Name of Organization: Connecticut Department of Social Services (DSS) Title: Connecticut Rural Health Transformation (RHT) Plan (CMS-RHT-26-001) Subrecipients / Sub-Awardee Organizations: DSS will serve as the lead agency. The project includes the following subrecipients/sub-awardees who will also carry out the state’s RHT Plan: the Connecticut Office of Rural Health (ORH), Office of Policy and Management (OPM), Office of Health Strategy (OHS), Office of Early Childhood (OEC), Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS), Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), Aging and Disability Services (ADS), Department of Public Health (DPH), State Department of Education (SDE), and Department of Agriculture (DoAg). The project also includes funding for contractors who will receive funding through contracts, distinct from the subrecipient/sub-awardee state agencies listed above. Project Goals: The Connecticut RHT Plan is a critical mechanism to advance a sustainable, data-driven model of care that enhances access, quality, and outcomes. DSS, as lead agency, is committed to removing barriers to treatment, improving health outcomes, and promoting patient-centered care. The RHT Plan centers on four coordinated initiatives that collectively include thirty-one targeted projects which, together, address all of CMS’s strategic goals for this grant to transform healthcare for residents in the state’s rural areas: make rural America healthy again by addressing root causes of diseases; strengthen sustainable healthcare access; improve workforce development; promote innovative care; and enhance tech innovation. The initiatives are: 1. Population Health Outcomes – Advance prevention, improve management of chronic diseases, maternal and behavioral health integration, and address root causes of disease. 2. Workforce – Strengthen recruitment, training, and retention of healthcare providers and staff through education partnerships, telehealth support, and career pipelines. 3. Data & Technology – Expand interoperability, health information exchange participation and telehealth infrastructure, and analytics to guide performance and inform policy, as well as improve healthcare providers’ ability to coordinate care and improve population health. 4. Care Transformation & Stability – Promote rural healthcare provider capacity to improve quality and population health, including by supporting enhanced care coordination, adoption of value-based models, integrating medical, behavioral, dental, and long-term services, coordinated care teams, and sustainable funding mechanisms for rural healthcare providers. The state’s plan will leverage partnerships with state and local agencies, tribal partners, healthcare providers, and community organizations to ensure locally responsive solutions. By aligning investments with evidence-based projects, the RHT Plan will improve chronic disease management, expand healthcare access, reduce avoidable hospitalizations, and strengthen the long-term health of rural residents through sustainable solutions. This program will modernize electronic and logistical infrastructure, strengthen community-to-clinician connections, and further integrate healthcare and community-based services across settings and types of care. Total Budget Amount: $1,000,000,000 Use of Funds: The requested $1,000,000,000 provides the investment needed to build a more resilient system that emphasizes prevention, supports providers, and ensures high-quality care that transcends distance barriers.
