FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 25, 2026

Contact: CMS Media Relations
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Trump Administration Announces $160 Million to Bring Cutting-Edge Technology, Drone Prescription Deliveries, Surgical Robotics and More to Alaska 

This federal investment will help expand access, strengthen the health workforce, improve infrastructure, and advance technology for communities across Alaska

The Trump Administration announced today that a $160 million investment is being delivered to improve health outcomes for Alaskans through the Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP). This investment will deliver funding to 142 projects across the state to advance technology, expand coordinated statewide care, and ensure seamless access for patients regardless of their zip code.

This funding is bringing cutting-edge health care innovation to Alaska, while expanding access to care in rural communities. Projects funded by this announcement include bringing robotic-assisted minimally invasive surgery to Southeast Alaska for the first time, creating a first-of-its-kind tribally led behavioral health and recovery campus, deploying AI-powered medical imaging across 21 hospitals to help rapidly identify time-critical conditions like stroke, and developing drone technology to deliver medications to remote villages where winter delays can stretch for up to two weeks. The funding also strengthens Alaska’s health data infrastructure and invests in training and recruiting the next generation of primary care physicians. Together, these investments are modernizing Alaska’s health care system, bringing advanced technology to communities that have historically faced significant access barriers, and helping more Alaskans get the right care closer to home.

“President Trump understands that every American deserves high-quality healthcare, no matter where they live,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. “We are putting resources directly into rural communities to strengthen the health workforce, modernize infrastructure, expand access, and bring care closer to home. We are giving states the flexibility to build solutions around the people they serve, while demanding accountability for results. That is how we strengthen rural health, improve the lives of patients and families, and Make America Healthy Again.”

“President Trump made a historic commitment to rural America, and these investments are turning that commitment into better care for patients in communities across Alaska,” said Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz. “This is what rural health transformation should look like: federal investment that is putting patients first, driving lasting improvements and expanding healthcare for the hardworking Americans who call these communities home.”

Today’s investment was made possible through the Working Families Tax Cuts Act— passed by Republicans in Congress and unanimously opposed by Democrats — delivering a historic $50 billion investment to help states transform the way healthcare is delivered in America.

"As one of the leading advocates for expanding this program, I applaud the state and stakeholders coming together to think outside the box about how we can address some of our longstanding obstacles to achieving quality healthcare across Alaska,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski. “These projects represent creative thinking to help Alaskans, regardless of where they call home, have improved access to care and achieve better health outcomes. I appreciate the continued commitment of CMS to working with our partners back home to make the most of this investment.”

“I want to commend the hundreds of Alaskans who put forward innovative proposals on how to transform our health care system for the better,” said Sen. Dan Sullivan. “These exciting projects range from strengthening our health care workforce and expanding addiction treatment options to accelerating medication deliveries in remote communities, deploying innovative mobile clinics with a range of specialties, significantly expanding dental care, and investing in robotics that assist with surgeries. And these projects are just the beginning. The Rural Health Transformation Program, which I fought hard to secure in last year’s Working Families Tax Cuts Act, amounts to the biggest investment in Alaska’s health care system in our state’s history. Additional awards are coming, with the state receiving $272 million per year for five years. So many Alaskans across the state—in our rural AND urban communities—will benefit from this important funding as we design a health care system that reflects our state’s unique needs.”

"This is an outstanding investment in Alaska that has the potential to fundamentally improve the way health care is delivered across our state,” said Rep. Nicholas Begich III. “Alaska has always demanded innovation. Our size and remote communities mean we cannot simply rely on the same health care delivery models that work elsewhere in the country. We have to use technology to overcome distance, expand access, and deliver a better product to Alaskans. The Rural Health Transformation Program gives us the opportunity to do exactly that. From surgical robotics and AI-assisted imaging to stronger health data systems and new ways to deliver medicine to remote communities, these are practical investments in technologies that can produce better outcomes for patients. I appreciate the President and his team for recognizing that transformative health care reform requires us to innovate and invest in what works. This latest $160 million investment will help ensure we continue leading the way in delivering better health care to Alaskans.”

These investments reflect the state's commitment to improving care and sustainable health systems by funding projects that focus on expanding the workforce and advancing technology to drive innovation for rural, remote, and frontier Alaskans. Today’s announcement is just one part of the larger overall funding amount being awarded to Alaska for fiscal year 2026.

Projects supported by the Rural Health Transformation Fund to Alaska include:

• Modernizing technology: $6.5 million to introduce the first robotic-assisted minimally invasive surgeries to Southern Southeast Alaska to expand local specialty capacity, reduce out-of-area referrals, and improve outcomes by overcoming longstanding access barriers.
• Expanding access to care closer to home: $5 million to transform access to behavioral health services by developing and operationalizing a first-of-its-kind tribally led residential treatment and recovery campus in Southeast Alaska. The project will expand access to coordinated, culturally responsive care by integrating residential treatment, behavioral health services, care coordination, workforce development, and community-based healing services into a single continuum of care.
• Strengthening the health data infrastructure: $4.75 million to strengthen Alaska’s statewide health data infrastructure by expanding health information exchange connectivity and interoperability, particularly for small and rural healthcare providers. 
• Building and retaining the rural healthcare workforce: Nearly $4.6 million to strengthen workforce capacity by stabilizing and enhancing the Alaska Family Medicine Residency Program. This project invests in recruitment, rural training, faculty development, and clinical training infrastructure to address Alaska’s shortage of primary care physicians and limited in-state residency capacity.
• Deploying AI-powered imaging to accelerate critical diagnoses: Over $3.1 million to establish a statewide AI imaging network across 21 acute care hospitals that pairs broad multi-pathology triage with advanced stroke imaging, so every site — urban or rural — receives the same rapid interpretation support for time-critical findings.
• Accelerating medication delivery to remote villages: A quarter million dollars to develop the regulatory, technical, and community engagement framework for a drone-based pharmaceutical delivery system connecting villages across 94,000 square miles, where medication delivery delays of 5–14 days are common during winter.

The Trump Administration is delivering on its commitment to strengthen rural America by investing in solutions that modernize technology to promote health and wellbeing for rural communities. Led by CMS, the RHTP is moving beyond the failed one-size-fits-all approach and giving rural communities the tools to build stronger, more innovative, and more sustainable health systems that deliver better care and better outcomes for the Americans they serve.

For more information about RHTP, visit: https://www.medicaid.gov/resources-for-states/rural-health.

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