Product
Introducing the RHTP Tracker
A free tracker for the $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program: what each state was awarded, what it plans to fund, and which state solicitations are open, with every number linked to the document it came from.
By Dominic Cischke, Prathik MalireddyFebruary 20, 20263 min readUpdated May 27, 2026
Texas received about $59 for every rural resident from the Rural Health Transformation Program's first year of awards. Rhode Island received $1,591. Both figures come from dividing each state's FY2026 award, as CMS announced it, by the state's rural population in the 2020 Census. The program pays every state a $100 million baseline before a workload formula adds the rest, and a fixed floor is worth far more per person in a small state than in a large one.
That gap is the first thing you see on the RHTP Tracker, which we are launching today. It is a free, public view of the $50 billion program, state by state, built for the hospitals, clinics, health plans and vendors trying to work out where the money is going and how to take part.
What it tracks
The program is $50 billion over five years, $10 billion a year, and all 50 states received an FY2026 award. The tracker's national page shows each state's award, its rank, its rural population, its funding per rural resident, the primary focus area CMS assigned it, and where the state is in its own procurement: planning, draft released, open, under review or awarded. The whole table downloads as a CSV.
Each state has its own page with:
- The award split into its $100 million baseline and its workload amount.
- The state's focus areas and initiative summaries, taken from the abstract it submitted to CMS.
- Its RHTP solicitations, each with type, amount, posted date, deadline and eligible applicants, plus the procurement portals it runs and the program contacts it has named.
- Rural hospital closures since 2005 from the UNC Sheps Center (195 nationally), HRSA shortage areas, the state's past federal rural health grants and its rural poverty rate.
- A checklist of the obligations a funded organization takes on, drawn from the program's notice of funding opportunity.
The Discover page puts every solicitation from every state in one list you can filter and sort, and the Timeline page lays out the program's dates from legislation to distribution.
How the data is gathered
Every number on the site links to the document it came from. Award amounts, focus areas and initiative summaries come from CMS. Rural population is the 2020 Census DHC table P2. Per-resident funding is our own calculation, award divided by rural population, and the site says so wherever it appears.
The procurement data is the part that goes stale, so we rebuild it by hand from primary sources: each state's RHTP program page, its statewide procurement portal, and the RFP, RFA and NOFO documents themselves. Aggregator sites are not used as sources, because they repeatedly attribute one state's grant to another. After each refresh we check the data for internal consistency, for example a state marked open with no open solicitation, or an open solicitation whose deadline has passed.
At the May 2026 refresh the tracker listed 140 solicitations, 165 state procurement portals and 118 program contacts across all 50 states. Twenty-one states had at least one RHTP procurement open, nine were reviewing submissions, three had made awards, one had released a draft, and sixteen were still planning.
Why Harper built it
Most RHTP money reaches the ground as sub-awards: a state receives the award, then contracts with hospitals, clinics, health plans and vendors to carry out its plan. Each of those agreements carries reporting, documentation and compliance obligations that run for the life of the award. Keeping those obligations met is the work Harper automates, and the tracker is the free first step: knowing which state is buying what, and when.
The tracker is at rhtp.tryharper.app. If something on it is wrong or out of date, the feedback link on every page reaches us directly, or email founders@tryharper.app.
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Frequently asked questions
- What is the Rural Health Transformation Program?
- A $50 billion federal program administered by CMS that funds state plans to improve rural health care, at $10 billion a year. Every state received an award for FY2026, made up of a $100 million baseline plus an amount set by a workload formula.
- Where does the tracker’s data come from?
- Award amounts and focus areas come from CMS’s award announcement, its 50-state spotlights and the abstracts states submitted. Rural population is the 2020 Census DHC table P2. Solicitations, portals and contacts come from state RHTP program pages, statewide procurement portals and the RFP, RFA and NOFO documents themselves. Every entry links to its source.
- How current is the bid data?
- We update the state solicitations, portals and contacts as frequently as we can. Each entry carries its posted date and deadline, so check the linked state document before relying on a status.
- Does the tracker cost anything?
- No. It is free, public and needs no account.
Sources
- HHS - CMS announces $50 billion in awards to strengthen rural health in all 50 states
- CMS - Rural Health Transformation Program 50-state spotlights (PDF)
- CMS - Rural Health Transformation Program state-provided abstracts (PDF)
- U.S. Census Bureau - 2020 Decennial Census DHC, Table P2 (urban and rural)
- UNC Sheps Center - Rural hospital closures
- SHVS - Tracking which state agencies are leading RHTP implementation