Illinois RHTP — Pre-Solicitation Framework
Illinois
Eligible Entity Types
Funding
Tribal Provisions
Illinois has one federally recognized tribal nation: the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, which was formally recognized as resident in Illinois in April 2024 when land was placed into trust at the Shab-eh-nay Reservation in northern Illinois. No tribal set-aside or tribal-specific RHTP track has been identified in Illinois's RHTP application. The Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation may be eligible under the general solicitation as a rural health provider; contact HFS for eligibility clarification when solicitations are announced.
Application Guide
Illinois received $193,418,216 in Year 1 RHTP funding ($120/rural resident). The lead agency is the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) — the state's Medicaid agency — working with IDPH (Illinois Department of Public Health) and hospital, provider, and community partners.
Illinois has 55 CAHs — the largest CAH count in this RHTP cohort — and 276 rural health clinics, reflecting substantial rural infrastructure under significant financial pressure. HFS has signaled that RHTP funds will support "grants to and direct investments in providers," indicating a grant sub-award model with 2 CFR 200 Uniform Guidance applying to sub-recipients. HFS's role as the Medicaid agency positions RHTP to integrate with Medicaid value-based payment programs, particularly for hospital transformation.
HFS conducted extensive pre-application stakeholder engagement: 38+ meetings and a public listening session with nearly 300 attendees, suggesting the program design is well-developed internally even as solicitation details remain unpublished.
Illinois's eight key initiatives are organized under three categories: Transforming Rural Healthcare (Hospital Transformation, Community Care Infrastructure, Chronic Disease Prevention), Overcoming Geographic Barriers to Care (EMS and Mobile Healthcare, Technology Innovation for Virtual Care), and Building a Resilient Rural Workforce (Healthcare Workforce Expansion, Training Healthcare Support Workers, Rural Health Education Pipeline). No solicitation has been published and no timeline has been announced beyond the general signal of budget negotiations with CMS.
HFS RHTP page: hfs.illinois.gov/info/fedresctr/ruralhealthtp.html. Lead: HFS (Medicaid agency) + IDPH. Award: $193,418,216 Year 1 ($120/rural resident). 55 CAHs — largest CAH count in RHTP cohort nationally. 119 FQHCs, 276 RHCs. Grant mechanism confirmed ("grants to and direct investments in providers"). 1 federally recognized tribe (Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation); no tribal set-aside identified. No solicitation published; budget negotiations with CMS ongoing. Year 1 expenditure deadline: September 30, 2027.