Hoeven: North Dakota Awarded Nearly $200 Million From One Big Beautiful Bill Rural Health Transformation Fund

Hoeven: North Dakota Awarded Nearly $200 Million From One Big Beautiful Bill Rural Health Transformation Fund

State Receiving Initial Funds for FY26, Expected to Receive $500 Million Over Five Years

BISMARCK, N.D. - Senator John Hoeven today announced North Dakota will receive more than $198 million from the One Big Beautiful Bill's (OB3) Rural Health Transformation Fund for Fiscal Year (FY) 2026. The state is expected to receive a total of $500 million over five years to improve health care quality and access in rural areas, using the funds to:

• Build and retain a rural health workforce.
• Prevent chronic disease and reduce costs.
• Leverage telehealth and care coordination to bring health care closer to home, while improving the timeliness of care.

Hoeven worked to support the state as it developed its application for the program, which was submitted in November. A summary of North Dakota's application can be found here.

"This nearly $200 million award is a tremendous step toward implementing North Dakota's plan for creating a more accessible and robust health care system for our rural communities," said Hoeven. "With nearly $500 million expected to be awarded to the state over the next five years, these funds will help address staffing needs over the long-term, open up new care opportunities for local residents and improve efficiency to reduce providers' costs. Through efforts like these, we can improve the health and well-being of North Dakotans across our state and support the continued resiliency of our rural communities."

As chairman of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee, Hoeven has worked to empower local communities to better meet their health care needs. This includes leveraging Rural Development loans and Critical Access Hospital (CAH) reimbursement to build state-of-the-art hospitals in communities like Rugby, Grafton and Hazen and improve health care access in those regions. Hoeven also advanced a multi-year effort to ensure the best possible health care for the residents of the Devils Lake region. This resulted in the agreement between Altru and CommonSpirit Health for Altru to acquire Devils Lake Hospital, benefiting both patients and health care providers.

-###-