Rural Health Care Facility Technical Assistance Program Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Rural Health Care Facility Technical Assistance Program Act directs the Agriculture Secretary to establish and maintain a technical assistance program, directly or through grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements. The program must tailor training and assistance to eligible rural health care facilities so they can identify development needs for maintaining essential services, support operational and quality improvement action plans, manage financial and business strategies, prepare long-term financial plans, and identify and apply for USDA loan and grant programs. The bill turns a rural health facility support function into a codified USDA program.
Who Benefits and How
Rural health care facilities benefit from tailored technical assistance for operations, quality improvement, finance, and capital planning. Rural patients benefit if local hospitals and clinics are better able to maintain essential health care services. Facility administrators benefit from help preparing long-term financial plans and USDA assistance applications. USDA rural development partners benefit from a clearer program structure for technical assistance delivery.
Who Bears the Burden and How
The Department of Agriculture must establish and maintain the program directly or through outside agreements. USDA Rural Development staff must coordinate technical assistance, training, and loan or grant navigation. Contractors and cooperative-agreement recipients must tailor assistance to each eligible facility's needs. Federal taxpayers bear the cost of program administration and technical assistance awards.
Key Provisions
- Establishes a Rural Health Care Facility Technical Assistance Program at USDA.
- Provides tailored assistance for maintaining essential rural health services.
- Supports operational, quality improvement, financial, and business planning.
- Helps eligible facilities identify and apply for USDA loan and grant programs.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Codifies a USDA Rural Health Care Facility Technical Assistance Program to help rural facilities plan essential services, improve operations and quality, manage finances, and apply for USDA loans and grants.
Key Policy Areas
Rural Health, USDA, Health Care Facilities
Primary Purpose
Codifies a USDA Rural Health Care Facility Technical Assistance Program to help rural facilities plan essential services, improve operations and quality, manage finances, and apply for USDA loans and grants.
Policy Domains
Resolution provisions
Identified Gains
- Rural health care facilities
- Rural patients
- Facility administrators
- USDA rural development partners
Identified Costs
- Department of Agriculture
- USDA Rural Development staff
- Technical assistance contractors
- Federal taxpayers
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeReferred to the Subcommittee on Commodity Markets, Digital Assets, and …
Mr. Jackson of Texas (for himself and Ms. Tokuda) introduced …
Referred to the House Committee on Agriculture.
Introduced in House
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology