States can begin applying Monday for their share of a $50 billion fund for rural health providers under the GOP’s tax and spending law, but they need to move quickly.

The Trump administration has officially launched the window for states to submit a detailed application for the first tranche of the five-year fund created to help rural providers offset the cuts to Medicaid and other health programs contained in the tax cut law.

States only have a few weeks to apply. The application period will close Nov. 5, with award decisions being made by Dec. 31.

During a call with reporters, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Mehmet Oz described the program as a way for rural providers to “catalyze innovation.”

“We believe we can use this as an opportunity to pivot from the crisis that we are currently living in to the comeback that America expects from us,” Oz told........

© The Hill