How to Prepare for RHTP Year 2 Funding with Rural Care Journey

The Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) runs in yearly budget periods. Budget Period 1 ran from December 29, 2025 to October 30, 2026; Budget Period 2 began on October 31, 2026, and CMS announced each state's Year 2 award on November 9, 2026. States now turn their Year 2 money into new grants, contracts and subawards. This manual shows how to use Rural Care Journey (RCJ) to see where your state stands, catch its next round early, and arrive ready to apply. Bookmark it: every step links straight to the page you need.

What Changed for Year 2

• Every state got a new award. CMS kept the $10 billion total but re-scored states on initiative progress and state policy actions, so each state's award moved a little up or down. See Who Gained and Who Lost.
• Money is counted by budget period. Each state page shows federal awards to date (Year 1 + Year 2) and tags awards to local organizations as BP1 or BP2 where the source dates them. Compare states side by side.
• New rounds are new opportunities. A state's "Round 2" or "Phase 2" of a Year 1 program is listed on RCJ as its own opportunity with its own deadline, not folded into the closed Year 1 round.

Find Your State

Every state's RCJ page in one place. Open yours in a new tab and follow along with Steps 1 and 2.

Alabama · Alaska · Arizona · Arkansas · California · Colorado · Connecticut · Delaware · Florida · Georgia · Hawaii · Idaho · Illinois · Indiana · Iowa · Kansas · Kentucky · Louisiana · Maine · Maryland · Massachusetts · Michigan · Minnesota · Mississippi · Missouri · Montana · Nebraska · Nevada · New Hampshire · New Jersey · New Mexico · New York · North Carolina · North Dakota · Ohio · Oklahoma · Oregon · Pennsylvania · Rhode Island · South Carolina · South Dakota · Tennessee · Texas · Utah · Vermont · Virginia · Washington · West Virginia · Wisconsin · Wyoming

Step 1: Read Your State's Readiness Signals

The Year 2 readiness report groups states by three yes-or-no signals. None of them is a grade; each tells you something practical about timing.

A state without the pipeline signal is not necessarily behind: it may have finished awarding its Year 1 money and not yet posted Year 2 rounds. That is the moment to prepare, not to give up. Check its recent awards and site activity.

Step 2: Work Through Your State Page

Open your state's page and read it top to bottom. Each section answers a planning question (links below open Missouri as an example; swap in your state's code):

1. 1Federal awards to date: the card shows Year 1 + Year 2 from CMS; open it for the exact split and the change. This is the pot your state is spending from.
2. 2CMS-reported status: the state's initiatives and the stage each is at, plus its State Policy Action commitments. Initiatives that are moving are where Year 2 solicitations usually come from; match your services to them.
3. 3State opportunities: everything RCJ tracks for the state, open and closed. Closed Year 1 rounds show the eligibility rules, budgets and timelines the state is likely to repeat.
4. 4State awardees: who received Year 1 money, with BP1/BP2 tags and totals by budget period. These are your likely partners, subrecipients or competitors in Year 2.
5. 5Site activity and milestones: what changed recently on the state's own RHTP pages, and dated milestones from its documents (shown when the state's documents state them).

Step 3: Catch the Next Round Early

• On Opportunities, filter by your state and by status: Open (accepting applications), Upcoming (announced, not yet posted) and Noncompetitive (money a state hands out without an open application, useful for spotting who is funded).
• Save the ones you may pursue to your workspace's saved list so deadlines stay in one place.
• Set keyword alerts in your profile (Pro, Team and vendor plans) for the services you offer, so a matching RFA reaches you by email. How-to: Using keyword alerts.
• Read the Daily Brief for new RHTP activity across states, including award announcements and newly posted rounds.
• Watch RHTP events for state information sessions and webinars, where new rounds are often previewed. How-to: Using the events page.

Step 4: Prepare the Application

1. 1Paste the solicitation's link into Opportunity Intelligence for a quick read of eligibility, deadline, priority areas and what reviewers will look for.
2. 2Open the opportunity's own page on RCJ for its full application package: the RFA plus forms, budget templates, FAQs and addenda RCJ has linked.
3. 3Compare it with the state's closed Year 1 round of the same program on its state opportunities list: repeated requirements are the ones to have ready early.
4. 4Click Start Application on the opportunity. RCJ loads the grant's context, runs Opportunity Intelligence and starts an eligibility survey; your Applicant Portal and projects then track the application, with a vendor candidate list, tips on eligibility gaps and an action plan. How-to: Using the Applicant Portal.
5. 5For strategy, read How to Win RHTP Funding: Guide for Rural Hospitals.

Step 5 (Vendors): Position for Year 2

• Use each state's awardee list to find the Year 1 recipients that may need technology, training or services to deliver their Year 2 work.
• Match your capabilities to the state's CMS-listed initiatives that are moving, and to the services in its open and upcoming solicitations.
• Keep your vendor profile current so applicants and states can find you; see How to Read Vendor Profiles. Try the Vendor Matchmaker (how-to) to see where you fit.

Year 2 Checklist