
$212.9M
Year 1 RHTP Award
Deliver Kentucky RHTP programs with a FHIR-native platform designed to support the A3 Team’s statewide rural health transformation initiatives. Enable interoperable care coordination, telehealth, remote patient monitoring, and clinical data exchange across rural providers while meeting state program requirements, strengthening regional collaboration, and accelerating scalable deployment across underserved communities.

Year 1 RHTP Award

(Aspire-Activate-Attain) Framework

Interrelated Initiatives

Obesity/Diabetes Prevention

Mapped To Kentucky Workflows

US Healthcare Technology Delivery
Kentucky received $212.9 million in Year 1 Rural Health Transformation Program funding (CMS awards December 2025). The Kentucky Department for Public Health (KDPH) under the Cabinet for Health and Family Services leads the program through the A3 Team (Aspire-Activate-Attain) framework across 5 interrelated initiatives. The plan centers on hub-and-spoke models for obesity and diabetes prevention, digital self-management tools, technology-enabled care delivery, and workforce recruitment for rural and Appalachian Kentucky. Vendor procurement opens Q3 2026 through Q1 2027. Mindbowser builds FHIR-native technology for Kentucky rural health systems and the A3 Team initiative scope.
KDPH filed Kentucky’s RHTP application through the A3 Team (Aspire-Activate-Attain) framework with 5 interrelated initiatives covering technology-enabled care, workforce recruitment, chronic disease prevention, digital tools, and care delivery modernization. The Year 1 award of $212.9 million reflects Kentucky’s substantial rural and Appalachian population and the chronic disease burden that drives disproportionate healthcare costs in Eastern Kentucky counties.
Kentucky’s rural health context:
The A3 Team structure connects technology investment to measurable chronic disease outcomes, workforce pipeline development, and care delivery transformation across Kentucky’s rural footprint.
Kentucky's 29 Critical Access Hospitals run a three-tier EHR landscape that maps directly to facility size. MEDITECH Expanse dominates the smaller CAH footprint, the workhorse for independent rural hospitals in Appalachian Kentucky. Oracle Health (Cerner) serves mid-size rural facilities, particularly those affiliated with regional networks. Epic is expanding via UK HealthCare and Norton Healthcare Community Connect, pulling system-affiliated facilities onto Epic's platform. The smallest facilities (sub-25 bed CAHs and some RHCs) run TruBridge/CPSI, a vendor rarely seen outside the smallest rural hospitals but critical in Kentucky's Appalachian corridor. The A3 Team framework requires hub-and-spoke data architecture: regional hubs (typically Epic or Oracle Health facilities) must exchange chronic disease data bidirectionally with spoke CAHs running MEDITECH or TruBridge. KHIE (Kentucky Health Information Exchange) provides the statewide exchange layer, but TruBridge-to-KHIE connectivity remains a gap that RHTP technology investment must close.

• FHIR R4 + USCDI v3 (mandatory July 2026) across Kentucky’s MEDITECH, Oracle Health, Epic, and TruBridge/CPSI footprint
• Hub-and-spoke data architecture connecting Epic/Oracle Health hubs with MEDITECH and TruBridge spoke CAHs
• TruBridge/CPSI-to-KHIE connectivity for smaller Appalachian facilities
• OAuth 2.0 + SMART on FHIR + identity provider federation
• KHIE governance alignment
• Digital self-management tool integration into Kynect Medicaid workflows


• KHIE governance alignment and TruBridge-to-KHIE gap closure
• Hub-and-spoke data architecture for A3 Team obesity and diabetes prevention programs
• Digital self-management tool EHR integration and FHIR data feeds
• Kynect (Kentucky Medicaid) billing configuration for rural provider workflows
• KDPH RHTP reporting infrastructure

What does AI-first care delivery look like for rural hospitals, clinics, and lean care teams?
In this replay, Dr. Shah Khan, Founder & CEO of EnlightenMed, joins Ayush Jain, Founder & CEO of Mindbowser, to discuss how AI-first EHR workflows can support rural providers across access, documentation, RPM, follow-up, and care coordination.
Points Covered In this replay:
Appalachian Kentucky households have 80.7% broadband access versus 87.2% in non-Appalachian Kentucky, with roughly 200,000 homes statewide unserved or underserved. Kentucky's $1.1 billion BEAD allocation targets this gap, but 36 of 54 Appalachian counties are classified as economically distressed, meaning broadband buildout faces both infrastructure and economic barriers. Cellular-first RPM deployment is required for Eastern Kentucky counties where terrestrial broadband will not arrive before RHTP technology must deploy. Eastern Kentucky counties report diabetes rates 2-3x the national average. Obesity rates in Appalachian Kentucky rank among the highest in the nation. The A3 Team framework targets these outcomes specifically through hub-and-spoke models: regional specialty hubs (typically at UK HealthCare or Norton Healthcare facilities) connect to spoke CAHs via telehealth and digital self-management tools.
Remote monitoring for diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and heart failure deployed through hub-and-spoke architecture. Cellular-first connectivity for the 36 economically distressed Appalachian counties. Integration with MEDITECH and TruBridge EHRs at spoke CAHs.
The CMS AHCAH waiver extended through September 30, 2030 under PL 119-75 Section 6210 creates the federal framework. Kentucky's Appalachian CAHs serve populations dispersed across mountain hollows where drive times between patient homes and hospitals can exceed 90 minutes on winding two-lane roads. Limited home health workforce in these counties makes H@H logistics uniquely challenging.
Kynect (Kentucky Medicaid, expanded 2014) covers all 4 telehealth modalities: video, store-and-forward, RPM, and audio-only. Behavioral health telehealth is critical for Eastern Kentucky communities where the opioid crisis has driven SUD treatment demand far beyond local provider capacity.
107 of Kentucky's 120 counties are designated Health Professional Shortage Areas. The state needs 306+ additional primary care physicians to remove those designations. Kentucky produces approximately 150 medical graduates per year, but only 35-37 stay in-state to practice primary care, a retention rate below 25%. The A3 Team framework names workforce recruitment as a core initiative because the technology-enabled care models (hub-and-spoke RPM, digital self-management tools) depend on having clinicians to operate them. Kentucky is a Nurse Licensure Compact member, which helps with interstate recruitment but does not solve the Appalachian retention problem. APRN scope of practice in Kentucky includes prescriptive authority with a collaborative agreement, creating an opportunity for NP-led rural clinics supported by clinical decision support and AI-assisted documentation.
•Virtual training platform infrastructure for Appalachian continuing education delivery
•AI-assisted clinical documentation reducing burden on rural clinicians managing larger patient panels due to the primary care physician retention bottleneck
•Patient-facing AI absorbing administrative volume from thin-staffed rural clinics
•Recruitment and referral network infrastructure targeting the 306+ physician gap across 107 HPSA counties
Kentucky APRN prescriptive authority and collaborative agreement workflow, Nurse Licensure Compact recruitment pipeline integration, CME/CEU credentialing for Appalachian rural providers, UK College of Medicine and U of L graduate retention tracking.
Kentucky received $212.9M Year 1 with 107 of 120 counties designated as primary care HPSAs. See how Kentucky's 8-category RHTP technology scope compares across all 50 states.
Kentucky follows the common RHTP six-phase procurement timeline. KDPH is in Phase 0 activity (setup, A3 Team coordination, procurement development) through Q3 2026. Phase 1 vendor procurement opens Q3 2026 through Q1 2027. Many states require a local entity (hospital, RHC, FQHC, rural health association) as the lead applicant for RHTP funds. Technology vendors partner with these on-the-ground entities rather than applying directly.
For Broader RHTP Technology Planning Across States, Explore Our Rural Health Technology Partner

Kentucky Department for Public Health under the Cabinet for Health and Family Services runs the RHTP program through the A3 Team framework. Vendors register through Kentucky's eProcurement portal and respond to KDPH-posted RFPs. Hub-and-spoke architecture and digital self-management tools may be procured as distinct work packages aligned to A3 Team initiative phases.

National prime contractors scoping Kentucky RHTP technology work need FHIR build capacity for MEDITECH-to-Oracle Health hub-and-spoke integration and TruBridge/CPSI gap closure. Mindbowser fits as the FHIR-native build subcontractor.

Kentucky Hospital Association (KHA, coordinating across 29 CAHs), Kentucky Rural Health Association (KRHA), Kentucky Health Information Exchange (KHIE), and the Kentucky Telehealth Network provide the local-entity partnerships required for RHTP fund access. KHA's small rural hospital focus area makes it a natural aggregating entity for multi-facility technology procurement.
30-minute scope conversations available weekly. Bring your KDPH contact, A3 Team context, KHA membership, or prime contractor scope; we will map capability fit, accelerator alignment, and Kentucky-specific procurement pathway in real time.
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Collaborating with Industry Leaders for Smarter Healthcare
Kentucky received $212.9 million in Year 1 RHTP funding (CMS award December 2025). KDPH leads through the A3 Team (Aspire-Activate-Attain) framework with 5 interrelated initiatives targeting 29 CAHs, 107 HPSA counties, and Appalachian communities with diabetes rates 2-3x the national average. The plan centers on hub-and-spoke obesity and diabetes prevention, digital self-management tools, technology-enabled care, and workforce recruitment. Kentucky's A3 Team model is a unique interdisciplinary structure not used by any other state's RHTP application.
KDPH is in Phase 0 through Q3 2026. Phase 1 vendor procurement opens Q3 2026 through Q1 2027 via Kentucky's eProcurement portal. Hub-and-spoke technology and digital self-management tools may be procured as distinct work packages. Local entities (29 CAHs, 418 RHCs, FQHCs, rural health associations) typically serve as lead applicants, with technology vendors partnering under their applications.
MEDITECH Expanse dominates smaller CAHs. Oracle Health (Cerner) serves mid-size rural facilities. Epic is expanding via UK HealthCare and Norton Healthcare Community Connect. The smallest facilities run TruBridge/CPSI. The A3 Team hub-and-spoke model requires bidirectional data exchange between Epic/Oracle Health hubs and MEDITECH/TruBridge spokes, with KHIE providing the statewide exchange layer.
Kentucky produces ~150 medical graduates annually but only 35-37 stay in-state for primary care. This sub-25% retention rate means 107 of 120 counties remain HPSAs despite having medical schools. AI-assisted clinical documentation, patient-facing AI, and telehealth-enabled specialist access become force multipliers for the thin rural clinical workforce that does remain.
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