Ohio University awarded $10 million to expand rural health care workforce, access needs across Ohio

Ohio University has received $10 million to help expand the rural health workforce through the State of Ohio’s Rural Health Transformation Program, a landmark initiative designed to improve rural health outcomes and access to health care across Ohio.

As part of this initiative, OHIO will serve as a lead partner in Health Workforce Ohio, a statewide rural health workforce development strategy. The initiative will also be co-led by The Health Collaborative, an organization that establishes and facilitates cross-sector partnerships across the state to help create proactive solutions to health care’s most pressing challenges, and the Ohio Association of Community Health Centers, which will be responsible for chairing a steering committee of 11 statewide organizations. 

With the help of this broad range of interdisciplinary health collaborations across the state, Health Workforce Ohio’s strategy will ultimately connect health care employers, schools, training providers and community organizations to recruit, train and retain health professionals in rural Ohio communities.

“Access to quality health care should not depend on where you live,” said Ohio University President Lori Stewart Gonzalez. “This landmark investment positions Ohio to become a national leader in rural health workforce innovation and reflects a powerful commitment to the people and communities that are too often underserved. Ohio University is proud to help lead this work, convening partners from across the state to build stronger workforce pipelines, expand access to care and create lasting solutions that will improve health outcomes for generations of Ohioans. Together, we have an opportunity to transform rural health across our state.”

Health Workforce Ohio will support locally driven solutions that help rural communities address their unique health care workforce needs. Planned strategies include expanding health care career exploration programs for students, increasing apprenticeships and work-based learning opportunities, strengthening telehealth and digital health training, reducing barriers to entering health care careers and supporting upskilling of current health care workers. 

These efforts will help strengthen the entire rural health workforce pipeline, with a focus on nursing, behavioral health, allied health and community-based care roles. More comprehensively, the initiative’s aim is to expand access to health care in rural Ohio, modernize rural health infrastructure and support innovative care delivery models for underserved communities. The comprehensive, system-level approach will be supported by data-driven decision-making, resource sharing across the value chain, and continuous stakeholder engagement. 

The State of Ohio’s Rural Health Transformation Program, which was created in July 2025 through the federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act, provides one-time funding to support long-term improvements in rural health care systems. As a result of this federal funding, Ohio’s related statewide efforts will focus on five key priorities: preventive health and chronic disease management, sustainable access to care, workforce development, innovative care delivery and health technology innovation.

CMS has indicated the Rural Health Transformation program may continue for five years.

According to the Ohio Department of Health’s Ohio Chronic Disease Atlas 2025, Ohioans living in rural communities experience higher rates of chronic disease, lower access to specialty care and poorer health outcomes than residents who reside in urban areas. State leaders say the Rural Health Transformation Program is designed to address those disparities through coordinated, community-based solutions that improve access to preventive care, behavioral health services and workforce capacity.

To date, more than 85 organizations across Ohio’s health care, education and workforce sectors, including OHIO's Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, College of Health Sciences and Professions and Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service, are slated to serve as partners and collaborators in Ohio University’s Health Workforce Ohio strategy to help enact practical, local solutions that can scale and deliver measurable workforce outcomes across rural Ohio.

“The scale of collaboration behind Health Workforce Ohio is unlike anything I’ve seen,” said Ohio University Vice President of Health Affairs and Senior Strategist for Health Partnerships Ken Johnson. “This initiative has brought together an unprecedented coalition focused on a common goal: strengthening Ohio’s health workforce. Rick Hodges deserves tremendous credit for helping bring this vision to life, along with many other partners who have contributed along the way. Health care’s biggest challenges require collective action, and Health Workforce Ohio is proof of what is possible when organizations come together with a shared purpose.”

Organizations interested in participating—from health care employers to education and training institutions and community partners—are encouraged to visit healthworkforceohio.org to explore additional funding and partnership opportunities. 

This project is supported by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award totaling $10,000,000 with 100 percent funded by CMS/HHS. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement by, CMS/HHS or the U.S. Government.