Sponsors (7)
The bill directs multi-year federal funding to expand evidence-based opioid and substance use disorder services in rural areas—improving access and service quality—but requires ongoing taxpayer investment, restricts use for capital projects, and may favor better-resourced applicants over smaller rural providers.
Rural residents, including Medicaid beneficiaries, gain expanded access to prevention, treatment, and recovery services for opioid and other substance use disorders through federally funded grant programs.
Grants fund evidence-based service delivery models and provide technical assistance, improving the quality, effectiveness, and sustainability of rural behavioral health services.
The bill authorizes predictable federal funding (authorized at $165M per year, FY2026–2030), giving states, tribes, and rural health programs reliable resources to plan and expand services.
Taxpayers face increased federal spending of $165M annually through 2030, which may be criticized if program outcomes are uncertain or hard to measure.
Grantees are prohibited from using funds for real property acquisition or major facility improvements, limiting the ability of rural programs to build or significantly upgrade clinics and infrastructure.
Smaller or less-resourced rural organizations may struggle to compete for grants because they lack capacity for complex applications and required local engagement planning, risking uneven access across communities.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Creates an HRSA Rural Communities Opioid Response Program and authorizes $165M/year (FY2026–2030) for grants to expand rural SUD prevention, treatment, and recovery services.
Official title: To amend the Public Health Service Act to maintain the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program, and for other purposes.
Introduced December 3, 2025 by Carol Devine Miller · Last progress December 3, 2025
Creates a new Rural Communities Opioid Response Program within HRSA to expand prevention, treatment, and recovery services for substance use disorders (including opioid use disorder) in rural areas. The bill authorizes HRSA to award grants and cooperative agreements to states, tribes, state offices of rural health, and other eligible domestic entities for planning, implementing evidence‑based care models, technical assistance, evaluation, and emergency response activities, and it authorizes $165 million per year for fiscal years 2026–2030.