Illinois Rural Health Transformation Program: Emergency Medical Services Resource Hospitals
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) opened the applicant-facing RHT-27 Rural Health Transformation – Overcoming Geographical Barriers to Care – Emergency Medical Services grant on November 2, 2026. This competitive grant supports designated EMS System Resource Hospitals serving rural Illinois, with projects focused on mobile integrated healthcare, rural EMS education and workforce development, expanded emergency-care capacity, and treat-in-place or treat-and-refer models.
Funding
The controlling IDPH Notice of Funding Opportunity states an individual award of $978,056.58 for each of an anticipated 15 EMS Resource Hospital grantees, including $207,466.54 restricted to training and education expenses. The $13,500,000 cited in the state opportunity listing is the overall program funding pool, not the amount available to one applicant. Cost sharing is not required. Indirect costs can be charged under applicable Illinois GATA rate-election requirements.
Who may apply
Only Illinois-designated EMS Resource Hospitals that are nonprofit or governmental institutions qualify under the RHT-27 solicitation. Individual persons and ordinary EMS vendors are not eligible applicants. Applicants must pass Illinois GATA prequalification, have an active Unique Entity Identifier (UEI), maintain required SAM.gov registration and organizational standing, and submit an eligible work plan and budget for rural EMS communities.
Eligible projects and restrictions
Eligible activities include rural mobile integrated health services, preventative and chronic-disease care coordination, EMS training and recruitment, vehicle purchases and modifications, qualifying equipment and IT infrastructure, staffing tied to expanded care models, and upgrades to rural prehospital capabilities. New construction, supplanting other funding, duplicate reimbursement for billable clinical services, prohibited lobbying costs, and other disallowed federal costs are excluded. Grant recipients must provide program performance information and financial reimbursement reports. Projects under the NOFO are planned through June 30, 2027.
Application deadlines: confirm an inconsistency
The official Illinois GATA opportunity listing and page 1 application-date fields of the NOFO show December 3, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. as the deadline. However, the same NOFO’s Section E on its page 11 states that applications must be received by November 30, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. Because the two dates conflict, prospective applicants should obtain clarification from IDPH and plan around the earlier November 30 date until the agency resolves the discrepancy. The source does not explicitly state a deadline time zone. A voluntary technical-assistance webinar is scheduled for November 12, 2026, 2:00–3:00 p.m. CST.
How to apply
Apply through IDPH EGrAMS after completing Illinois GATA prequalification. The NOFO identifies the Uniform State Grant Application, project narrative, work plan, budget and budget narrative, a Community Health Needs Assessment, and an EMS System Baseline Data Submission Form. The scoring rubric allocates 65 points to project scope, 20 to work plan and 15 to budget. Contact IDPH’s named program contact, Kristofer Tackett, for solicitation questions and conflicting deadline clarification.
Official sources: Illinois GATA RHT-27 opportunity listing and the controlling 13-page NOFO PDF. Official documents were reviewed November 3, 2026.