Trump Administration Announces New Funding to Support Early Career Physicians Who Choose to Work in Rural Delaware
This federal investment will award housing and assistance to help future physicians train and practice in rural communities, ensuring Delawareans get the care they need close to home.
Today, the Trump Administration announced over a million dollars in Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) funding to help recruit and retain physicians serving communities in rural Delaware. This investment will support medical students and physicians in residency training, reduce the financial burden of clinical training, and encourage more physicians to build their careers while expanding quality care access to rural communities across Delaware.
This transformational funding will deliver two educational awards to eligible medical students in the program’s first year and funding for an expected 61 housing and relocation awards for eligible applicants in graduate medical education programs. Recipients will commit to five years of practice in rural Delaware, with at least 50% of their practice serving qualified rural areas.
The Rural Health Transformation Program is expanding access to quality healthcare, regardless of a patient’s zip code, and equipping first responders with the lifesaving resources they need when every second counts. This funding will make critical investments to strengthen rural healthcare, expand access to lifesaving services, and bring modern technology to communities across Delaware.
“President Trump understands that every American deserves high-quality healthcare, no matter where they live,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. “We are putting resources directly into rural communities to strengthen the health workforce, modernize infrastructure, expand access, and bring care closer to home. We are giving states the flexibility to build solutions around the people they serve, while demanding accountability for results. That is how we strengthen rural health, improve the lives of patients and families, and Make America Healthy Again.”
“President Trump made a historic commitment to rural America, and these investments are turning that commitment into better care for patients in communities across Delaware,” said Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz. “This is what rural health transformation should look like: federal investment that is putting patients first, driving lasting improvements and expanding healthcare for the hardworking Americans who call these communities home.”
Today’s investment was made possible through the Working Families Tax Cuts Act — passed by Republicans in Congress and unanimously opposed by Democrats — delivering a historic $50 billion investment to help states transform the way healthcare is delivered in America.
Today’s announcement is one part of the larger overall funding amount awarded to Delaware for fiscal year 2026.
Key initiatives the overall RHTP funding will focus on include:
- Building the rural healthcare workforce: Supporting recruitment, training, and retention strategies to strengthen the pipeline of healthcare professionals serving rural communities.
- Strengthening rural facilities and access: Supporting partnerships, operational improvements, and care-delivery changes that help rural providers maintain essential services and improve access.
- Advancing innovative care and payment models: Supporting new approaches to delivery and financing designed to improve quality, strengthen primary care, and support sustainable rural healthcare.
- Expanding community-based and preventive care: Investing in school-based care, mobile services, and other community strategies that improve prevention, address chronic disease, and expand access to care.
- Modernizing rural healthcare technology: Expanding remote care and data-driven tools to improve coordination and extend healthcare services to rural communities.
The Trump Administration is delivering on its commitment to strengthen rural America by investing in solutions that modernize technology to promote health and well-being for rural communities. Led by CMS, the RHTP is moving beyond the failed one-size-fits-all approach and giving rural communities the tools to build stronger, more innovative, and more sustainable health systems that deliver better care and better outcomes for the Americans they serve.
For more information about the RHTP, visit: https://www.medicaid.gov/resources-for-states/rural-health.
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