BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) - Essentia Health is gearing up to make the most of the Rural Health Transformation program, which is part of the president’s Big Beautiful Bill.

The federal program will invest $50 billion in rural America to improve health care.

Eighty-four percent of Essentia Health’s service area is rural.

The company hopes to provide 24/7 emergency care to more patients and support local cancer care services.

“I think this funding is well-needed. It’s one of the largest investments in rural health care in recent times, so I think it’s going to play an important part to making sure that we can educate the workforce, that we need to support rural patients in the next five years, and hopefully, beyond that,” said Andrew Askew, vice president of Public Policy at Essentia Health.

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