The West Virginia House of Delegates on Tuesday approved two bills meant to help the state in the application process for the five-year, $50 billion federal Rural Health Transformation Program.
Delegates passed House Bill 4740 with a 92 to 1 vote. House Bill 4951, requiring physicians to complete continuing education in nutrition, passed with a vote of 58 to 35.
Gov. Patrick Morrisey requested both bills. The Trump administration announced late last year it awarded West Virginia $199 million for 2026 through the Rural Health Transformation Program, a program that aims to “help states strengthen rural health infrastructure and build enduring systems of care,” according to the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.
Curtis Capehart, Morrisey’s director of policy, told the Health Committee last week West Virginia will be reevaluated over the next five years of the program to determine if it’s meeting the goals for the program and the federal government has the ability to claw back the money or allocate more. Implementing the changes in the legislation would help the state score higher for future evaluations.
The Rural Health Transformation fund was included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which made historic cuts to Medicaid. The $50 billion rural health fund was added to the federal bill to quell concerns the cuts in the Republican megabill would lead to rural hospitals closing.
The program will distribute out $50 billion fund to approved states over the next five years, with $10 billion distributed each year starting fiscal year 2026.
According to HB 4951, the state Board of Medicine and Board of Osteopathic Medicine would add the continuing education requirements as a part of the licensing process.
Medical doctors are required to complete 50 hours of continuing education every two years and doctors of osteopathic medicine are required to complete 32 hours of continuing education. The bill would incorporate two hours of continuing education hours on nutrition as a part of those requirements.
Del. Shawn Fluharty, D-Ohio, noted that the boards of medicine and osteopathic medicine could implement their own changes to the credentialing rules without the Legislature changing the law.
“This is a government mandate,” Fluharty said. “This is big government walking into the Board of Medicine instead of allowing professionals to make decisions on the continuing education aspect and what stops [lawmakers] in the future from politicizing this and putting things into code that are a political hot topic at the current moment, and not medically necessary? I think we let the medical professionals decide what’s medically necessary, and not the government mandating something for continuing education purposes.”
Under HB 4740, the West Virginia Department of Health would be able to use its own purchasing division for the federal money, without having to go through the state’s purchasing division. The program would still have to follow the rules of the purchasing division.
Del. Kayla Young, D-Kanawha, who cast the lone “no” vote to HB 4740, expressed concerns the state’s share of the federal funding could be fraudulently spent if the Department of Health does not use the state purchasing division to spend the money.
House Health Chair Del. Evan Worrell, R-Cabell, said the health department would still have to follow its own rules and guidelines for the funding. Worrell said he does not have concerns about the potential for fraud because the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid has guidelines for the program and has made clear that the agency will track how the state uses the funds.
Both bills will next go to the Senate for consideration.
This article originally appeared on West Virginia Watch.
West Virginia Watch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. West Virginia Watch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Leann Ray for questions: info@westvirginiawatch.com.
