HB0122

Establishes the Wyoming Rural Health Transformation Program to manage federal rural health transformation funds through a perpetuity fund and time-limited initiatives, with governance through an advisory committee and accountability requirements.

• Creates the Wyoming Rural Health Transformation Sustainability, Accountability and Fiscal Protection Act and defines key terms including the perpetuity fund, annual required distribution, and rural health transformation funds from the federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act. (W.S. 35-25-701, W.S. 35-25-702)
• Establishes a nine-member Wyoming Rural Health Transformation Advisory Committee appointed by the governor for four-year terms, with ex officio members from the Department of Health and State Budget Department, plus legislative liaisons. The committee must meet at least twice annually and review grants and expenditures exceeding $500,000. (W.S. 35-25-703)
• Creates the Wyoming Rural Health Transformation Perpetuity Fund to be invested by the state treasurer according to investment board policy, with all earnings returned to the fund. Allocates perpetuity fund principal into purpose-dedicated shares ($1 million per share) and establishes continuous appropriation of the annual required distribution to an expenditure account. (W.S. 35-25-704)
• Establishes the Wyoming Rural Health Transformation Program within the Department of Health to administer allowable perpetuity fund expenditures and time-limited initiatives in accordance with the approved federal transformation plan. (W.S. 35-25-705)
• Allocates perpetuity fund annual required distribution to four permanent allowable expenditures: 40.7% for Critical Access Hospital Basic Incentive Program providing incentive payments to hospitals meeting service delivery requirements; 26.9% for Emergency Medical Service Regionalization with incentive payments to participating providers; 21.6% for Workforce Education Individual Support providing awards for nursing, emergency medical services, behavioral health, and physician education; and 10.8% for Physician Post-Graduate Medical Education Support prioritizing family medicine and high-demand specialties with service obligations. (W.S. 35-25-706)
• Authorizes time-limited initiatives for available rural health transformation funds, including integrated primary care (36.4%), technology adoption challenges (15.1%), exercise and diet programs (9.8%), tele-specialist platform (8.2%), workforce education startup costs (8.2%), care coordination (8.2%), centralized billing capacity (4.9%), nonemergency transportation coordination (2.0%), and administrative costs (2.6%), with authority terminating upon exhaustion of funds.