State of Wyoming - Rural Health Transformation Application - Wyoming’s proposal for Rural Health Transformation, as developed and submitted by the Department of Health (WDH) and the Governor’s Office, is intended to directly address the health care priorities of our rural communities. We collected those priorities in a series of eleven (11) town hall meetings, and had them ranked by 1,316 Wyomingites in an online survey. The priorities that came out on top aren’t extravagant. Most center on access to the basics: hospitals that can effectively treat emergencies, ambulances that show up quickly when you dial 911, and primary care that treats the whole person. When combined with the federal objectives articulated in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, these priorities informed the four (4) major goals of our proposal. With supporting components listed under each, these are: 1. To increase sustainable access to right-sized and coordinated rural medical care. - Encouraging smaller Critical Access Hospitals to focus on doing the basics well, and creating incentives for small ambulance services to consolidate around sustainable regional funding bases; - Expansion of primary care that integrates behavioral health and preventative medicine; - Building an affordable major medical plan for people priced out of health insurance. 2. To build a durable workforce pipeline. - Individual education support for people looking to become nurses, primary care providers, behavioral health clinicians and emergency medical technicians; - Grants for institutions to build career pipelines in these fields, starting in high school; and, - Loosening scope of practice for physician assistants, dental hygienists, and pharmacists. 3. To improve metabolic, cardiovascular, and behavioral health outcomes. - Exercise and diet promotion; - Restricting the use of SNAP/food stamps to buy unhealthy food; and, - Statewide telepsychiatry and crisis intervention services. 4. To use technology and payment models to improve chronic disease management and bring care closer to home. - Clinically-integrated care coordination for people at high risk of chronic disease; and, - Non-emergency transportation coordination. We were requested to assume a hypothetical $200,000,000 total budget for this proposal. Depending on the amount Wyoming actually receives, 48% of the funding will support access to emergency medical care, 25% will increase rural workforce supply, 16% is targeted at improving health outcomes, 10% will help providers acquire innovative new technology, and less than 1% will cover State administrative costs. Although this funding is time-limited, all of our initiatives are intentionally built for the long-term. Rural Health Transformation is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to strengthen how care is delivered in Wyoming, and we will not let it go to waste.
