Rural health grants could cover prenatal care, food-as-medicine programs
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indiana’s state health director on Tuesday said the goal of a coming set of health care grants is to improve investments in preventive medicine. Braun administration officials announced. . .
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indiana’s state health director on Tuesday said the goal of a coming set of health care grants is to improve investments in preventive medicine. Braun administration officials announced Tuesday morning they are reviewing applications for the new GROW Rural Health program. The program will award $120 million to rural health initiatives scattered throughout the state. State Health Director Dr. Lindsay Weaver said the money is part of a larger, federal Rural Health Transformation grant totaling $207 million. Weaver said hospitals, EMS services, community organizations and others have spent the past several months meeting regionally to determine the communities’ biggest health care gaps. “It should be easy for people to be healthy, and right now, it’s not,” she said. “We make it difficult for people to know where they need to go, who they need to talk to, and so seeing these communities and these regions really come together is really exciting, and that’s where I think we’re going to see that true transformation. ”Access to health care remains a serious problem in rural areas. As part of their submissions for the program, stakeholders determined people living in some rural parts of Indiana face a 45-minute drive to the nearest emergency room and more than an hour to the nearest maternity ward. Health outcomes in Indiana’s rural counties lag those of the rest of the state. For example, in the program’s Region 4, which stretches from Grant and Tipton counties southwest to Wayne, Fayette and Union counties and excludes Delaware County, the death rates for diabetes, heart disease, and stroke were 48. 0, 275. 2 and 65. 3 per 100,000 population, respectively. The statewide average for those three diseases were 34. 4, 239. 9 and 55. 7, respectively. Weaver is a longtime ER physician who still works a shift in an Indianapolis emergency room once a week in addition to her state health director duties. She said she often sees patients whose health problems were made worse by a lack of access to preventive care. She said the key for the program is to find new ways to deliver services and keep more people out of the ER. “I’m thankful that that has been a part of these applications, is how do we bring that care out into the community so we can get ahead of it, so hopefully they won’t have to come see me in the ER,” she said. Braun administration officials said proposals include food-as-medicine programs for people with chronic conditions, telehealth networks and transportation initiatives. Weaver said many of the proposals incorporate pre- and postnatal care programs as well asmobile integrated health, which uses paramedics to help deliver some nonemergency medical care, including post-ER follow-ups. She said officials will consider whether programs invest in evidence-based initiatives and how much coordination there is among stakeholders. In addition, Weaver said officials will consider whether a proposal is sustainable past the grant program. TheRural Health Transformation Program, which was part of last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, allocates $10 billion each year for the next five years, with the final block of money to be awarded in 2030. The state will announce the winning grants on Sept. 1. Weaver said the state will continue to issue grants every year for the next five years, so applicants will have more chances to apply if they don’t get selected this time.