Hawaii Awarded $58 Million in Federal Funds for Rural Health Development

Hawaii will receive $58 million in federal funding from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' Rural Health Transformation Program to support healthcare development in its rural areas. This is part of a larger nearly $200 million five-year federal investment. The funds will primarily go to the University of Hawai'i John A. Burns School of Medicine for its workforce development initiative, offering free tuition for health-related careers in exchange for five years of service in rural Hawaii. The state Department of Health will use the remaining funds to acquire new ambulances and upgrade emergency communication networks.