HARTFORD, CT — October 15, 2026 —As the state embarks on the federally funded Rural Health Transformation Program, Innovations provides critical evaluation to ensure health outcomes are improved for the people of Connecticut.

Rural communities across the nation and in Connecticut face longstanding challenges when faced with improving the health and wellness of citizens. Limited staffing, aging infrastructure, and financial strain can make it difficult for health and community systems to meet residents’ needs.

Authorized under federal legislation, the Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) is a $50 billion initiative administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to modernize and improve healthcare access, quality, and outcomes in the nation’s rural communities. With an initial $154 million award the first year, the State of Connecticut will work to improve outcomes in the state’s rural regions, among them Northwest Hills and Northeastern Connecticut, including the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation and the Mohegan Tribe.

In Connecticut, the Department of Social Services (DSS) serves as the lead administering agency, collaborating with 11 state agency partners, including UConn and UConn Health. The grant “represents a tremendous opportunity to strengthen population health, health care access, workforce capacity, and system sustainability for residents in rural communities across our state,” says DSS Commissioner Andrea Barton Reeves.

Leading a Comprehensive, Statewide Evaluation

During this five-year initiative, Innovations Institute will serve as the designated evaluation lead, with support from faculty and staff at the School of Social Work, UConn Health’s Health Disparities Institute and Center on Aging, and the Neag School of Education’s Husky Nutrition and Sport. The multidisciplinary team will use rigorous data monitoring, deep community engagement, and continuous progress tracking to ensure high-quality evaluation of Connecticut’s RHTP.

The UConn researchers will track the progress of 30 projects across the program’s four core initiatives: Population Health Outcomes; Workforce; Data and Technology; and Care Transformation and Stability.

Guided by an implementation science approach, the evaluation team will:

• Design & Launch Tailored Evaluation Plans: Establish standardized indicators, outcomes, timelines, and deliverables across all 30 projects, ensuring alignment with broader CMS benchmarks and state goals.
• Build Secure Data Infrastructure: Develop unified data collection protocols, standardized templates, and secure transfer systems compliant with state and federal privacy standards (PHI/PII).
• Provide Continuous Feedback & CQI: Facilitate regular progress monitoring, qualitative stakeholder feedback, and rapid-cycle CQI review meetings with project leads, the Connecticut Rural Health Advisory Council, and Regional Collaboratives to address implementation barriers in real time.
• Examine Equity & Long-Term Sustainability: Conduct longitudinal analyses of service access, utilization, workforce capacity, and health outcomes across diverse rural populations—evaluating organizational capacity, funding models, and system-level policy factors necessary to sustain successful practices beyond the grant period.

“With a specific focus on the sustainability of RHTP initiatives and the expansion of evidence-based strategies into rural settings, our evaluation team is thrilled to work with community stakeholders, state partners, and UConn colleagues to monitor and report on progress with an eye to innovation and improving health and wellness for the people of Connecticut,” says principal investigator Michelle Zabel, executive director of Innovations Institute and associate extension professor at the School of Social Work.

UConn’s evaluation team includes expert advisor Jennifer Manuel, associate dean for research and professor, and co-investigators Margo Candelaria, associate research professor, and Samantha Lawrence, assistant research professor. Candelaria will lead the Population Health Outcomes evaluation, Lawrence will lead the Care Transformation and Sustainability evaluation, and a new Innovations faculty member joining this fall will lead the Data and Technology evaluation. The Workforce evaluation will be led by an expert team of faculty and staff from UConn Health’s Health Disparities Institute in partnership with the Center on Aging.

Through its evaluation, Innovations Institute will help state and community partners understand how this innovative program translates into changes in care — and what it will take to maintain those improvements for Connecticut’s rural residents.

This project is supported by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award totaling $154,249,105.53 in Budget Period 1 with 100 percent funded by CMS/HHS. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by CMS/HHS, or the U.S. Government.

About Innovations Institute, UConn SSW Innovations Institute is a multidisciplinary center within the University of Connecticut School of Social Work dedicated to improving outcomes for children, youth, young adults, and their families. Innovations Institute partners with state, local, and national entities to provide research, technical assistance, training, and workforce development to advance equitable and effective systems of care.