Health Workforce Ohio takes next step to strengthen state’s rural health care workforce

Health Workforce Ohio, a $10 million initiative to strengthen Ohio’s rural health care workforce, is taking its next step toward improving access to quality care across the state of Ohio by inviting grant proposals that turn statewide collaboration into local workforce solutions.

Eligible organizations are encouraged to apply for funding to address critical workforce shortages, expand career pathways and increase access to quality health care services in Ohio’s non-urban counties. The grant program supports collaborative, data-driven initiatives tailored to local workforce needs.

Information about Health Workforce Ohio can be found at www.healthworkforceohio.org, as well as a link to Ohio University’s procurement website where the grant request for proposal and other information is located. All submissions will be reviewed according to the program’s published evaluation criteria.

The Health Workforce Ohio initiative is co-led by Ohio University, home to the largest public medical school in Ohio, and The Health Collaborative, an organization that establishes and facilitates cross-sector partnerships to help create proactive solutions to health care’s most pressing challenges. The Ohio Association of Community Health Centers, which represents Ohio’s Federally Qualified Health Centers and community health centers (FQHCs), is also a key partner as chair of the steering committee of 11 statewide organizations.

The opening of grant applications advances the partnership’s work to strengthen career pathways and address critical workforce shortages. Funding will support collaborative, data-driven programs that recruit, train and retain health care professionals to improve health outcomes for rural Ohioans through increased access to quality care.

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.

Top priorities for Health Workforce Ohio include workforce pipeline, recruitment and upskilling. Examples of efforts that drive those strategies might include career exploration programs for students, apprenticeships and work-based learning opportunities, training in digital and telehealth, reducing barriers for those entering health care careers and support for upskilling of current health care workers.

The initiative is part of Ohio’s broader effort under the Rural Health Transformation Program, which was created in July 2025 through the federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act, to provide one-time funding to support long-term improvements in rural 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.

The federal government’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has indicated the Rural Health Transformation program may continue for five years.

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

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.