Constructing a Digital Spine: How States Can Modernize Rural Healthcare with RHTP Funding

The Rural Well being Transformation Program (RHTP), a $50 billion federal initiative spanning 5 years, presents states with a historic alternative to stabilize and modernize healthcare in rural communities. Central to sustaining rural healthcare is the hub and spoke mannequin, the place a big central hub hospital can present managed providers, specialist entry, and know-how assist to smaller rural spoke services. This mannequin enhances care coordination, useful resource sharing, and specialist availability, making a sustainable regional healthcare ecosystem.

Scaling this mannequin requires vital infrastructure funding to construct a strong, safe, and high-performance digital spine. Investments should guarantee dependable broadband connectivity, safe networks, and scalable telehealth platforms tailor-made to the scale and capability of every rural hospital—from small Crucial Entry Hospitals (CAHs) to giant regional hubs. We encourage states to type collaborative consortiums involving a number of healthcare suppliers to leverage economies of scale and regional coordination, a vital requirement of the grant. Cisco’s modular, scalable options allow states and their designated hubs to design and deploy this infrastructure, supporting steady affected person care, superior cybersecurity, and operational effectivity.

By investing in digital resilience by way of the hub and spoke mannequin, states can prolong high-quality care to rural populations, assist the supply of care that may result in improved well being outcomes, and construct sustainable healthcare ecosystems that stand up to disruptions and develop with neighborhood wants. The applying deadline for RHTP is November 5, 2025, making well timed funding vital to leverage this historic funding alternative.

This strategy aligns with RHTP priorities by modernizing infrastructure, strengthening workforce capabilities, enabling modern care supply, and guaranteeing long-term sustainability by way of scalable, safe, and adaptable digital well being ecosystems.

The necessity for digital resilience in rural healthcare

• Infrastructure Challenges by Hospital Dimension: Rural hospitals range extensively—from small CAHs with fewer than 26 beds to bigger rural emergency hospitals and regional referral facilities. Digital resilience options should be custom-made to hospital measurement and capability to optimize funding and affect.
• Connectivity and Cybersecurity: Smaller hospitals typically face higher challenges securing dependable broadband and defending in opposition to cyber threats as a consequence of restricted sources. That is compounded by a historic lack of funding in rural healthcare infrastructure. Moreover, healthcare stays essentially the most focused sector for cyberattacks, with the proliferation of related medical units growing the assault floor and complexity of securing these environments.
• Operational Continuity: Disruptions from cyberattacks or infrastructure failures disproportionately have an effect on smaller rural hospitals, risking affected person care and income streams.

Advantages of investing in digital resilience

• Tailor-made Infrastructure Design: Options are scalable and sized particularly for hospital complexity, guaranteeing cost-effective deployment that meets distinctive operational calls for.
• Steady Affected person Care: Dependable networks and backup methods reduce downtime, guaranteeing uninterrupted entry to EHRs, imaging, and telehealth. Digital resilience can cut back unplanned downtime by as much as 25%, strengthening continuity of take care of rural sufferers, particularly vital as practically 96% of healthcare organizations report a minimum of one unplanned EHR outage, impacting affected person security.
• Enhanced Safety: Superior, built-in cybersecurity protects delicate affected person information and ensures compliance. Trendy frameworks can cut back safety incidents, with examples displaying a 97% discount in information entry incidents from phishing simulations. That is important, as 92% of healthcare organizations skilled a minimum of one cyberattack in 2024, disproportionately affecting rural hospitals.
• Operational Effectivity: Secure IT infrastructure reduces employees burden and helps modern care fashions like distant monitoring and digital collaboration. By scaling telehealth and RPM, states can prolong entry to specialists for an estimated 87% extra rural sufferers who at the moment journey greater than double the gap of city sufferers for care, considerably enhancing entry and completion charges.
• Financial and Neighborhood Stability: Dependable healthcare infrastructure attracts and retains residents, supporting rural financial growth.

Value and funding issues

• Funding Scale: Prices range primarily based on hospital measurement and current infrastructure. Smaller hospitals require foundational community upgrades and cybersecurity, whereas bigger hospitals ought to spend money on scalable information facilities and superior telehealth platforms.
• Value Effectivity: Cisco’s modular and scalable options permit phased investments aligned with hospital capability and progress projections, optimizing return on funding.

Alignment with RHTP priorities

• Modernizing Infrastructure: Upgrading telemedicine/collaboration platforms, community resilience, and cybersecurity tailor-made to hospital measurement.
• Strengthening Workforce: Supporting recruitment and retention by way of dependable know-how and coaching.
• Revolutionary Care Supply: Supporting the supply of preventative care, power illness administration, and behavioral well being providers by way of scalable AI-powered digital infrastructure tailor-made to rural well being neighborhood wants.
• Sustainability: Making certain long-term operational and monetary viability by way of resilient methods and shared useful resource fashions.

Subsequent steps

States should submit their RHTP functions by November 5, 2025. Investing now in digital resilience tailor-made to rural hospital measurement will remodel healthcare supply, assist the supply of care that may result in improved affected person outcomes, and construct sustainable well being ecosystems. Cisco stands able to companion along with your state to develop compelling functions and implement options that maximize this singular funding alternative.

For extra data on navigating the funding course of with confidence, attain out to Cisco’s Public Funding Workplace.