Gov. Tate Reeves on Wednesday announced the creation of a new office to manage the state’s $206 million share of the federal Rural Health Transformation Program, naming certified public accountant Richard Grimes as its director and rolling out a website that he said would offer public transparency on spending and progress. The move formalizes the administration’s control over a five-year grant that Mississippi secured in December 2025, part of a $50 billion congressional effort to shore up rural health systems battered by rising costs and recent federal spending cuts.
Reeves, in a press release, called the office a “massive step forward for healthcare in Mississippi” and said the state is “putting the structure and transparency in place to deliver real, lasting improvements for our rural communities.” The governor’s office led the state’s application for the funds and will continue to oversee their distribution, according to the release.
The Rural Health Transformation Program was designed to offset the strain that last summer’s federal budget cuts are expected to place on struggling rural hospitals. Mississippi’s plan includes a statewide health assessment, coordination of care, workforce development, a health information exchange, expanded telehealth and infrastructure upgrades. The state’s budget is still under review by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and the money must be obligated by September 2027 or it will be redistributed to other states, according to CMS.
The governor’s unilateral control has frustrated state legislators of both parties, who say they were excluded from the application process and have been given inadequate oversight of the hundreds of millions of dollars. Senate Public Health Chairman Hob Bryan, a Democrat from Amory, told Mississippi Today, the outlet that first reported the story, that “if you haven’t received a personal invitation from the governor, you have no input at all.”
In March, lawmakers passed a bill that would have required the state to report the program’s spending to the Legislature and ensure the money is directed to rural communities. Reeves vetoed the measure, arguing that the added requirements could slow distribution and potentially cause the state to lose up to $1 billion over five years. The Legislature failed to override his veto.
In Wednesday’s announcement, Reeves’s office said the funding is already subject to oversight by CMS and federal procurement regulations, and it had “worked to address and push back on proposed state legislation that could have introduced unnecessary complexity or slowed implementation.”
Information about how to apply for grants will be posted on the new program website once the details are finalized, the site states.