Maryland RHTP — Pre-Solicitation Framework
Maryland
Eligible Entity Types
Funding
Tribal Provisions
Maryland has no federally recognized tribes. State-recognized tribal communities — including the Piscataway-Conoy Tribe, Piscataway Indian Nation, and Accohannock Indian Tribe and Citizen Nation — may be eligible as community-based organizations under the general solicitation, but tribal-specific eligibility or a tribal set-aside has not been identified in Maryland's RHTP application. Organizations serving these communities should engage MDH directly for eligibility clarification when solicitations are announced.
Application Guide
Maryland received $168,180,838 in Year 1 RHTP funding (~$615/rural resident). The lead agency is the Maryland Department of Health (MDH). Maryland's rural profile is distinctive within the RHTP cohort: the state has zero Critical Access Hospitals and zero federally recognized tribes, which removes two of the most common RHTP eligible-entity categories from its landscape. The primary eligible-entity pathways here are FQHCs, school-based health centers, community-based organizations, local health departments, and behavioral health providers.
MDH conducted 17 local listening sessions and an RFI with 325+ responses before finalizing its application — a substantial pre-engagement footprint. The state's three investment areas include a food access and health component that is unusual among RHTP states and reflects western Maryland's agricultural economy and rural hunger hotspot geography (Garrett and Allegany counties).
The Rural Health Transformation Committee launched with a first meeting on February 26, 2026, meeting at least quarterly. This committee is accepting volunteer applications from rural Maryland organizations and will shape implementation priorities and solicitation timing.
Maryland's sub-award structure is a dual-track grant model. Track 1 — Immediate Impact Funds: rapid-deployment grants for activities that can move quickly without extended procurement timelines, most likely to benefit established organizations with existing infrastructure, expected to release on an earlier timeline than Track 2. Track 2 — Transformation Funds (Competitive): formal competitive solicitation (RFA) for longer-term transformation activities, the primary access point for new and smaller organizations seeking meaningful RHTP funding, expected mid-2026 based on committee cadence signal. Both tracks are active across all three investment areas. The RFA structure, eligibility criteria, and award ceilings have not been published.
Maryland has 0 CAHs, which means the hospital track prominent in most states is absent. Expected eligible entity types based on MDH framing include FQHCs and community health centers (32 FQHC sites), school-based health centers, local health departments, behavioral health providers, Area Health Education Centers (AHECs), community-based organizations (CBOs), agricultural organizations and food system entities (Food Access initiative), academic institutions (workforce pipeline), and state-recognized tribal organizations (eligibility as CBOs — not confirmed; contact MDH).