RHTP Value-Based Purchasing (Initiative 11)

The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (Agency) is issuing this Request for Applications (RFA) to establish grant agreements with eligible subrecipients under Florida’s Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP). RHTP is a five-year, federally funded initiative administered by the Agency under the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Cooperative Agreement No. 1RHTSSCMS332067-01-00 (the “cooperative agreement”). The RHTP was developed pursuant to Florida’s approved RHTP application and the Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) funding authorities under Title XIX and Title XXI of the Social Security Act. 

The RHTP is organized around five strategic goals — Make Rural America Healthy Again, Sustainable Access, Workforce Development, Innovative Care, and Tech Innovation — and is implemented through 14 distinct initiatives described in the RFA. 

The Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) Initiative is a core component of Florida's RHTP, designed to support rural healthcare providers in transitioning from fee-for-service (FFS) reimbursement to performance-based payment models that reward quality, improved outcomes, cost efficiency, and care coordination. This initiative funds the organizational infrastructure, data systems, care coordination capabilities, and workforce capacity necessary for rural health providers to participate in Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) arrangements — particularly with Medicaid Managed Care Organizations (MCOs).