Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey announced last week that the state has submitted its plan for improving rural healthcare to the federal government. The plan outlines 11 statewide initiatives that would utilize $500 million in federal funding over the next five years.

The plan is part of the Rural Health Transformation Program, an initiative outlined in the omnibus One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed by federal lawmakers this summer. The program provides $50 billion in grants to states over five years to improve rural healthcare. The program is estimated to offset a third of federal Medicaid cuts — also stemming from OBBA — in rural areas.

In order to secure a slice of the program’s funding, Alabama had to submit a plan on how the state would use $500 million over the next five years to improve rural healthcare in the state. In her announcement, Ivey said the Alabama Rural Health Transformation Program was developed with input from the governor’s office, the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs, the Alabama Department of Finance, the Alabama Medicaid Agency and the Alabama State Health Planning and Development Agency, as well as a group of state healthcare officials and lawmakers.

The plan outlines 11 initiatives the state will focus on over the next five years. These initiatives are:

• The Collaborative Electronic Health Record, IT and Cybersecurity Initiative
• The Rural Health Initiative
• The Maternal and Fetal Health Initiative
• The Rural Workforce Initiative
• The Cancer Digital Regionalization Initiative
• The Simulation Training Initiative
• The Statewide EMS Trauma and Stroke Initiative
• The EMS Treat-In-Place Initiative
• The Mental Health Initiative
• The Community Medicine Initiative
• The Rural Health Practice Initiative

Ivey’s announcement describes these initiatives as “complementary approaches to help rural healthcare facilities become more financially viable, increase access to critical healthcare services and improve quality of care and patient health outcomes.” The announcement also says that these initiatives will seek to increase collaboration among Alabama’s healthcare systems, modernize the state’s healthcare infrastructure and increase the healthcare workforce statewide.

“Making America Healthy Again begins in rural America, and I look forward to the state and federal governments working together to improve health care across the state,” Ivey said.

Alabama’s rural hospitals have been imperiled in recent years. Since 2009, nine rural hospitals have closed in the state. According to the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform, 23 rural hospitals in Alabama are at risk of closing — roughly half of the rural hospitals in the state. Additionally, 70% of the state’s rural hospitals lack labor and delivery units.

Alabama top stories in brief

State sending funds to needy families, food banks as SNAP funding stalls

• Gov. Kay Ivey announced last week the state will provide $5 million in funding to food banks across the state, as well as $300 per child for families who enrolled in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program to offset the loss of SNAP benefits amid the federal government shutdown.
• $2 million in food bank support will come from the state’s emergency fund, while $3 million will come from the Alabama Department of Human Resources. These funds will go to eight foodbanks that, combined, serve all of Alabama’s counties.
• Meanwhile, Alabama Democrats last week called for a special state legislative session to address the loss of food assistance. 
• “We’re here. We’re ready to work. We’re ready to make sure that not one Alabamian, not one senior citizen, not one child, not one disabled person in the state of Alabama goes hungry,” Sen. Merika Coleman, D-Birmingham, said at a press conference.
• More than 750,000 people in Alabama receive SNAP benefits.

South Alabama man faces federal charges after threats to state religious leaders

• Jeremy Wayne Shoemaker has been federally charged after authorities say he made threats against Alabama religious leaders, as well as leaders in surrounding states.
• Shoemaker, who lives in Choctaw County, is accused of sending messages, filled with slurs and expletives, threatening a Mountain Brook rabbi and another rabbi in Mobile.
• Additionally, Shoemaker is accused of sending more threatening messages to an imam in Georgia and an Islamic center in Louisiana. 
• Investigators tracked the phone number used to send these messages to Shoemaker, and arrested him on Oct. 26 for resisting arrest and illegally possessing a firearm. Investigators also found a suitcase full of ammo and body armor upon searching Shoemaker’s home.
• Released interviews with federal agents show that Shoemaker claimed the messages, “were satire, not a legitimate threat.”

Alabama oyster harvest expected to be worst in years

• Alabama’s wild oyster harvest season, which began in October, is off to a rocky start, with state conservation officials projecting one of the worst harvest seasons in years.
• Survey locations along Alabama’s Gulf Coast have shown a decline in both mature and juvenile oysters compared to last year.
• Oyster harvests have continuously declined in recent years. Following a peak harvest of 50,000 sacks in 2021, harvests have dropped each year since — totalling in at 25,000 sacks for last year’s harvest season. 
• A third of the way into the 2025 season, only 2,402 sacks have been brought in.
• State officials have pointed out several different factors in a low harvest rate this year, including rough surf conditions, low oyster prices early in the season and a strong oyster harvesting season in Mississippi.

Tuberville raised more than $1M in campaign funds in October

• U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville raised more than $1 million in campaign contributions last month as he continues his bid for governor. Tuberville’s fundraising totals have now reached more than $7.7 million.
• Tuberville received major contributions from Birmingham-area Pepsi and Coca-Cola bottlers, the League of Southeastern Credit Unions and current Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth. His fundraising has surpassed Gov. Kay Ivey’s fundraising at this point in her 2022 campaign by more than $5 million.
• Tuberville’s Republican opposition for governor, Ken McFeeters, did not report any contributions for October and currently has $18,112 on hand for his campaign. 
• Democratic candidate Will Boyd raised $8,500 in contributions last month and has $4,378 in cash on hand. Chad “Chig” Martin, another Democratic candidate, raised $1,379 and reported $9,677 on hand.

Announcements

• We are now publishing a weekly podcast to go with each edition of the Alabama Roundup. The podcast will feature the same stories as the Roundup, and will be slightly adapted for listening. You can listen to the podcast on Spotify here.

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