# The Menu and the First Friday > 864 organizations sent nearly 1,800 letters of interest in Alaska's $272,174,856 rural health program. Published 2026-08-16 by Alaska AI. 9 slides. Canonical: https://alaskaaihq.com/archive/2026-08-16/ ## The story The list says drones and AI. The order says X-ray machines. Alaska wrote the menu itself "Drones, kiosks, remote dispensing equipment, or other technologies that support medical delivery, logistics, diagnostics, or emergency response" "Pilots or demonstrations of emerging technologies (e.g., AI-enabled tools or wearables) to assess effectiveness and scalability prior to broader deployment" Eight hundred and sixty four asked 864 organizations sent nearly 1,800 letters of interest. The Department of Health invited 403 to submit full applications. Nineteen were funded. $4.5 million of $272 million The first round moved less than 2 percent of the year's allocation, across nineteen projects, at an average award of $241,000. Decisions come every Friday. What the first order bought Fourteen are not itemised here Nineteen projects were funded. Five are itemised in published reporting. The other fourteen are not, so nothing here describes what they bought. Three regions, nothing yet No project serving Kodiak, the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta or the North Slope was in the first round. Decisions come out every Friday. The design pointed one way What should the next Friday buy? ## What we verified - Alaska will receive $272,174,856 in the first year of the federal Rural Health Transformation Program, one of the largest allocations in the nation. [Alaska Department of Health](https://health.alaska.gov/en/education/rural-health-transformation-program/), primary document, 2026-08-07. - Alaska's Rural Health Transformation program page lists drones, kiosks and remote dispensing equipment among the technologies the money may buy. [Alaska Department of Health](https://health.alaska.gov/en/education/rural-health-transformation-program/), primary document, 2026-08-07. - The same page names AI-enabled tools and wearables as emerging technologies eligible for pilots or demonstrations. [Alaska Department of Health](https://health.alaska.gov/en/education/rural-health-transformation-program/), primary document, 2026-08-07. - The program received nearly 1,800 letters of interest from 864 unique organizations. [Alaska Department of Health](https://health.alaska.gov/en/education/rural-health-transformation-program/), primary document, 2026-08-07. - The state invited 403 of those letters of interest to submit full applications. [Alaska Department of Health](https://health.alaska.gov/en/education/rural-health-transformation-program/), primary document, 2026-08-07. - The Alaska Department of Health says funding decisions will be released publicly each Friday. [Alaska Department of Health](https://health.alaska.gov/en/education/rural-health-transformation-program/), primary document, 2026-08-07. - Alaska's first Rural Health Transformation budget period runs from December 29, 2025 through October 30, 2026. [Alaska Department of Health](https://health.alaska.gov/en/education/rural-health-transformation-program/), primary document, 2026-08-07. - On Friday August 7th, 2026 Alaska health officials approved spending just $4.5 million of the state's $272 million allocation. [Anchorage Daily News](https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/rural-alaska/2026/08/07/alaska-officials-award-less-than-2-of-rural-healthcare-funding-postponing-decision-on-remainder/), report, 2026-08-07. - The first round of funding was divided among 19 projects, with an average award size of $241,000, and accounts for less than 2 percent of Alaska's first-year allocation. [Anchorage Daily News](https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/rural-alaska/2026/08/07/alaska-officials-award-less-than-2-of-rural-healthcare-funding-postponing-decision-on-remainder/), report, 2026-08-07. - The Alaska Primary Care Association was awarded $650,200 to implement improvements to Alaska's Medicare program. [Anchorage Daily News](https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/rural-alaska/2026/08/07/alaska-officials-award-less-than-2-of-rural-healthcare-funding-postponing-decision-on-remainder/), report, 2026-08-07. - Chugachmiut, an Alaska Native nonprofit, was awarded $627,200 to buy portable X-ray machines for five rural clinics. [Anchorage Daily News](https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/rural-alaska/2026/08/07/alaska-officials-award-less-than-2-of-rural-healthcare-funding-postponing-decision-on-remainder/), report, 2026-08-07. - Alaska Behavioral Health was awarded $593,100 to expand a program that allows young Anchorage residents suffering from mental health challenges to grow produce in a hydroponic farm. [Anchorage Daily News](https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/rural-alaska/2026/08/07/alaska-officials-award-less-than-2-of-rural-healthcare-funding-postponing-decision-on-remainder/), report, 2026-08-07. - The Norton Sound Health Corporation, an Alaska Native nonprofit serving Northwest Alaska, received $292,100 to implement a new scheduling system. [Anchorage Daily News](https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/rural-alaska/2026/08/07/alaska-officials-award-less-than-2-of-rural-healthcare-funding-postponing-decision-on-remainder/), report, 2026-08-07. - The Nenana Volunteer Fire Department was awarded $50,000 to plan for a new mobile crisis team. [Anchorage Daily News](https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/rural-alaska/2026/08/07/alaska-officials-award-less-than-2-of-rural-healthcare-funding-postponing-decision-on-remainder/), report, 2026-08-07. - No projects serving Kodiak, the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta or the North Slope were included in the first round of awards. [Anchorage Daily News](https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/rural-alaska/2026/08/07/alaska-officials-award-less-than-2-of-rural-healthcare-funding-postponing-decision-on-remainder/), report, 2026-08-07. - The Department of Health wrote that its anticipated timeline for the remaining decisions has been extended to mid-August due to emerging factors. [Anchorage Daily News](https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/rural-alaska/2026/08/07/alaska-officials-award-less-than-2-of-rural-healthcare-funding-postponing-decision-on-remainder/), report, 2026-08-07. - Jared Kosin, president of the Alaska Hospital and Healthcare Association, said the fundamental flaw continues to come from the design of the program. [Anchorage Daily News](https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/rural-alaska/2026/08/07/alaska-officials-award-less-than-2-of-rural-healthcare-funding-postponing-decision-on-remainder/), report, 2026-08-07. - Spencer Perry, an economist at the University of Alaska Anchorage Institute of Social and Economic Research, said the deep focus on technology might miss some of the lower-hanging fruit and more bread-and-butter public health healthcare access policy. [Anchorage Daily News](https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/rural-alaska/2026/08/07/alaska-officials-award-less-than-2-of-rural-healthcare-funding-postponing-decision-on-remainder/), report, 2026-08-07. - Rep. Genevieve Mina said in June that you name a program transformation, but the way that the feds designed it is almost directing us to AI. [Government Technology, reprinting Anchorage Daily News](https://www.govtech.com/health/do-alaska-rural-health-transformation-funds-point-to-ai), report, 2026-06-09. - Among the proposals Alaska advanced in June was a Tanana Chiefs Conference plan to use drones to deliver vaccines and pharmaceuticals to Interior villages. [Government Technology, reprinting Anchorage Daily News](https://www.govtech.com/health/do-alaska-rural-health-transformation-funds-point-to-ai), report, 2026-06-09. Slides and the deck PDF are linked from the canonical page.