$17 million awarded to support health care in Newton County
Published 3:07 pm Wednesday, September 9, 2026
LITTLE ROCK — Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced $149.3 million in awards to recipients of the first round of Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) grants on August 27.
The funding is from two programs established by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, namely the Telehealth, Health-Monitoring, and Response Innovation for Vital Expansion (THRIVE) initiative; and, the Promoting Access Coordination and Transformation (PACT) priority. These awards are fully-funded by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
The awards are part of the $209 million the state expects to award by this fall. Governor Sanders anticipates that Arkansas will receive approximately $1 billion in RHTP funding over the next five years. Two additional initiatives of grant funding will be announced at a later date for the Recruitment Innovation Skills and Education for Arkansas (RISE AR) and Healthy Eating, Active Recreation, and Transformation (HEART) initiatives.
According to the press release, “THRIVE modernizes rural health care delivery by expanding telehealth, strengthening emergency medical response, and deploying remote patient-monitoring technology. PACT brings specialty care, preventive screenings, telehealth, and trauma-ready services into rural communities while supporting locally driven clinical networks, data sharing, and regional collaboration.”
In this initial round, 50 projects were awarded funding, with four of those projects addressing concerns in Newton County, with approximately $17 million in funding.
Community Health Centers of Arkansas, Inc. (CHCA) was awarded grants through the THRIVE initiative for two programs – Arkansas Community Health Intelligence Platform and Arkansas Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) Clinical Decision Support & Specialty Access Initiative.
According to CHCA, “the [Arkansas Community Health Intelligence Platform] will create health information exchange connections, deploy population health analytics, implement interoperability tools, enhance cybersecurity services, and provide comprehensive implementation support across 66 Arkansas counties.” In Newton County, that includes Deer and Jasper Boston Mountain Rural Health Centers. Award – $1,911,394.00
The Clinical Decision Support & Specialty Access Initiative will implement VisualDx software, training, and program management to help participating FQHC clinicians diagnose and manage conditions that often require specialty input. The VisualDx website states that it “provides clinical decision support and reference content. It supports clinician reasoning but does not diagnose or replace clinical judgment. Award – $130,410.00
“This funding represents a tremendous opportunity to strengthen healthcare access for rural Arkansans,” said CHCA’s Chief Executive Officer Lanita S. Shaverd, PharmD. “These investments will enable our health centers to better serve our members and the broader rural communities we support.”
Baxter Health and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences received funding under the PACT priority.
Baxter Health’s Regional Collaboration Hub, through the Rural Access Network, will “work alongside regional healthcare organizations, including Boston Mountain and Izard Regional Hospital, to bring specialty care closer to rural patients. The initiative will support expanded specialty access through telehealth, the conversion of five community clinics to Rural Health Clinic status, deployment of a mobile value-based care and preventive screening unit, improvements to clinical communication technology, and important SAFE facility investments.” Award – $12,000,000.00
“This is an extraordinary opportunity for Baxter Health and, more importantly, for the rural communities we serve,” Ron Peterson, President and CEO of Baxter Health, said. “People who choose to live in rural America deserve access to exceptional healthcare close to home. These investments give us new tools to overcome some of the barriers rural patients face every day and build a stronger healthcare system for the future.”
As described in their press release, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ Arkansas Pregnancy Care Connect “is an integrated maternal access model designed to improve access to women’s health, prenatal, and postpartum care across rural Arkansas. The program will deploy mobile clinic teams in two regions and launch a statewide nurse-led pregnancy and postpartum advice line.” Award – $2,986,934.00
“Improving rural healthcare is one of the most significant issues in our state. Where someone lives should not determine the quality of care available to them,” said UAMS Chancellor C. Lowry Barnes, M.D. “These RHTP awards have given us the opportunity to propose programs that will make a real difference in rural areas.”
Governor Sanders said. “these awards will help local hospitals, health care providers, and community partners bring new services and technology directly to the Arkansans who need them. I’m proud that we are investing in stronger, healthier communities and building a better future for families across the Natural State.”
