AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Texas Rural Hospitals are in the spotlight after the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) created the Rural Health Transformation (RHT) Program, a national $50 billion fund reserved for rural hospitals. Half of the funds will go towards each state equally, while the other half will be distributed by U.S. Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). States requesting extra funds have to have their applications to CMS in early November.

Today at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) held a hearing where Texas healthcare professionals were invited to voice their concerns and priorities that should be considered in the Texas’ application for the RHT.

Before the hearing, HHSC emphasized the importance of direct and local control of the funds.

“These funds, if we get them, are yours," Director of Provider Finance at HHSC Victoria Grady said to open the hearing. "They belong to rural Texans, and we want to prioritize local control as much as possible. We want to get as much of the $50 billion for Texas as we can.”