This bill requires the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to have an Office of Rural Health with a director in charge. The office would be the CDC’s main point of contact on rural health, study rural health problems, share findings, and help spread effective programs—including telehealth—to improve care in small towns and farming communities. It can give out grants and contracts for technical help and other activities to improve health in rural areas, and it must work with other federal rural health efforts to avoid duplication . It also puts into law an office the CDC already started in 2023, giving it clear duties to better understand rural challenges and improve access to care and healthy living in these communities .

• Key duties include: coordinating research, sharing best practices, identifying gaps in care, and supporting education and proven interventions to prevent disease, injury, and disability in rural populations .