Healthcare Tech Vendors: Your Urban Clients Are Already in the RHT Program. Have You Checked?

The reach of Rural Health Transformation is going to catch a lot of non-rural tech vendors by surprise—and that’s exactly why they should act today. 

The Rural Health Transformation (RHT) Program is a once-in-a-generation opportunity…and that opportunity isn’t confined to the borders of rural health. 

This is because the lines between rural and urban health are extremely blurry.  

I’m talking with a lot of leaders and vendors in the RHT space and one glaring truth keeps emerging—the impact of this program is something no one fully understands right now. 

This is a call to all healthcare tech vendors to pause and evaluate how RHT will impact their short-term strategies, competitive positioning, growth potential, and future market trends. (I expect in a couple of years, when the program is in full swing, growth, revenue, marketing, and sales leaders will be expected to justify their decisions to engage, or not engage with this program.)

To help you get started, I’ve put together five reasons healthcare tech vendors who sell primarily into urban providers should be deeply interested in the Rural Health Transformation program…not next year, or in 2035, but today. 

#1 The Hub-and-Spoke model means your urban clients could already be in the program

The RHT program leans heavily on the Hub-and-Spoke model—a concept that acknowledges the interconnectedness of rural providers (including CAHs, FQHCs, tribal entities, and health clinics) and urban providers. For example, Florida’s Hub and Spoke Telestroke with Transfer initiative.

Because of this, states have already selected central providers (referred to as “Regional Health Hubs”, “Hub Leads”, “Regional Care Collaboratives”, or potentially a different term depending on the state.) Vendors should have already reviewed their client lists to understand where these entities are headed strategically, so you can begin highly contextualized outreach in your customer marketing. (The same honestly goes for high-priority prospects.)

Remember that RHT is a state-specific game, and every state is moving at its own pace with its own initiatives, so you’ll want to check each state’s plans for yourselves in addition to formal outreach. 

#2 Competitors can use rural as a wedge

The Hub-and-Spoke model means that urban health leaders (your buying committee decision makers) are being exposed to tech through a channel in an almost entirely new way. 

They’re seeing “rural-first” alternatives to your solution in live environments with highly strict performance and outcome requirements. No peer relationship, sales team, or case study can compete with that. 

Now is the time to understand how you’re playing defense against and taking advantage of this opportunity. 

#3 Rural Health Transformation will shape future federal programs, especially VBC

RHT is something almost completely new. This means that there are leaders in government and healthcare who are learning from it as it expands and develops. 

Those who master it now will be better prepared for a future of both federal and state programs that lean into value-based care and away from fee-for-service models.  

#4 It’s where Medicaid dollars (and your revenue) are headed

The Rural Health Transformation program was intended to soften the blow of the $1 Trillion in cuts to Medicaid over the next 10 years, a portion of which will directly impact rural health providers. 

If you don’t directly service rural health providers, this might seem like a non-issue, but it goes back to the main takeaway here—the lines between rural and urban are growing increasingly blurry. Some urban hospitals are being reimbursed for servicing rural health patients through a range of different programs and relationships. 

The impact on vendors is incredibly difficult for anyone to predict, but the thing that’s certain is you don’t want to ignore the potential changes. 

#5 RHT is answering the most valuable healthcare challenges

RHT is essentially a high-pressure test of technologies and models that answer rural health challenges. 

The thing is, these challenges—workforce development, access, tech innovation, preventive health, new care models—they’re the same issues that hospitals and health systems in urban areas and international providers are focused on solving. 

Vendors who dive into RHT are going to learn lessons that propel them for years, even decades to come—and once this opportunity passes, it won’t come again in our lifetimes. 

How non-rural tech vendors can take action on RHT now

Your first step is knowing which of your clients are already hub-designated and influencing program design—prioritizing these states in your RHT strategy. That’s exactly what the RHT Opportunity Scan does. If you need ideas on where to start, this package will be good inspiration. 

If you don’t have the staff or capacity to move on RHT at the speed needed to match this fast-moving program, LocutusHealth offers packages ranging from high-context, state-specific profiles to narrative development and sales/BDR playbooks. You can explore those here, or grab some time here for a quick chat about how the program impacts your professional future.

About the Author

Megan Williams is an enterprise healthcare technology content strategist, founder of LocutusHealth, and originator of the Outcomes-Based Content Marketing (OBCM) Framework. She has 20 years of experience helping health tech vendors turn content into a strategic revenue driver for the healthcare buying committee — clinical, financial, IT, and administrative decision-makers.

Megan has been closely tracking the Rural Health Transformation Program since its inception, researching state-by-state requirements and helping vendors evaluate and act on the opportunity. She publishes findings in the How Healthcare Buys Tech newsletter.

Connect with Megan: LinkedIn

Framework: Outcomes-Based Content Marketing (OBCM)

Focus Areas: Healthcare IT, Enterprise Health Tech, Rural Health Transformation, Content Strategy Content

Team Member: Wolters Kluwer, HP/Forbes, Verizon, Samsung Healthcare