• Allocate funds to the Maryland Department of Labor to expand its Registered Apprenticeship program to focus on healthcare apprenticeships for community health workers, certified nursing assistants, licensed practical nurses, medical assistants, alcohol and drug counselors, and Certified Peer Recovery Specialists.
• Allocate funds to the Maryland Area Health Education Center at the University of Maryland to expand programs that (1) connect rural students to healthcare careers with hands-on experience in healthcare settings and (2) support health profession clinical education rotations that include housing, preceptorships, interprofessional training, and continuing education.
• Allocate funds to the MDH Office of Population Health Improvement to implement a Maryland Health Workforce Data Clearinghouse to determine need for primary and specialty care providers, promote the recruitment and retention of healthcare providers to help meet identified needs, and help reduce shortages of healthcare providers in rural Maryland.
• Awards to local /regional entities will help eligible individuals find, train for, and obtain employment, and support three categories of opportunities:
  • Career exploration and work-based learning programs that provide hands-on, skillsbased training for students (ranging from from middle school to institutions of higher education) to connect classroom learning to real-world careers.
  • Upskilling opportunities for incumbent workers to gain new skills, credentials, and/or access advancement opportunities
  • Programs to support innovation and public health, including the creation of a public health service corps, community-level health promotion and chronic disease prevention, and health data analytics.

• Allocate funds to the Health Services Cost Review Commission to support more primary care and specialty practices in rural communities. Funding will support primary care start-up costs and specialty practice transformation.
• Allocate funds to strengthen rural health departments and Area Agencies on Aging revenue capture and self-sufficiency via hiring a contractor with expertise in coding, billing, and revenue cycle management.
• Pilot pre-hospital whole blood transfusion in rural regions to reduce mortality.
• Expand School-Based Health Centers' access to integrated primary care, chronic disease management, behavioral health, and oral health for students, teachers, school staff, and the rural community.
• Allocate funds to enable the Chesapeake Regional Information System for our Patients (CRISP), Maryland’s State-Designated HIE and Health Data Utility, to expand HIT connectivity.
• Allocate funds to CRISP for a centralized telehealth infrastructure.
• Allocate funds to the Mobile Health Transformation Fund as a key strategy to overcome access barriers by bringing care directly to rural residents.
• Innovative Care Transformation Fund: Allocate funds to the Innovative Care Transformation Fund to help rural providers adopt value-based care and alternative payment models.
• Allocate funds to the Behavioral Health Transformation Fund to increase sustainable access to the full behavioral health continuum of care across the lifespan in our rural communities.

Maryland will invest in infrastructure to improve access to nutritious, locally grown and raised foods.

• Allocate funds to the Maryland Department of Agriculture to locate cold storage infrastructure within rural communities to expand food aggregation and distribution capacities.
• Allocate funds to the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development to expand the NourishMD: Healthy Food Access Grant Program to provide capital to small grocers and mobile access points serving rural Maryland. Funds will support equipment purchases (e.g., refrigeration, shelving), minor facility alterations, technology infrastructure, and marketing.
• Allocate funds to rural health departments to provide nutrition education to improve healthy behaviors among rural residents.
• Allocate funds to the Maryland Department of Emergency Management (MDEM) to serves as the coordinator and convenor of food system partners and establish a Rural Food Coordination program to coordinate efforts across local food councils, food banks, and local government agencies in rural communities.