Investing in Dental Technology Application: Grants to Improve Rural Dental Efficiency and Access

Summary

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) is seeking applications for competitive grants to support dental clinics in adopting technologies that improve efficiency and increase access to care in rural and semi-rural communities. Dental practices, particularly in more rural areas of the state, face challenges that result in reduced access to care. These challenges include high rates of uninsured patients, low and unpredictable patient volumes, dental workforce shortages, and limited capital resources to adopt innovative technologies. This funding opportunity seeks to address these challenges through increased access to dental technological innovations, which improve dental services in rural Wisconsin by increasing the speed of appointments while maintaining quality of care. This funding will allow dental practices to purchase technologies to deliver high-quality and efficient services.  Applicants may apply to multiple Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) funding opportunities for which their organizations are eligible. 

Key dates

• Application release: June 15, 2026 

• Application submission due: July 27, 2026 

• Application questions due: June 26, 2026. Responses will be posted within one week. Please send questions to: dhsruralhealth@dhs.wisconsin.gov, and place Dental Application Questions in the Subject line. 

• Estimated date for award notification: September 2026 

Background

The Wisconsin Rural Health Transformation Program is focused on improving healthcare access and health outcomes in rural communities across Wisconsin. This funding opportunity is part of the Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP), a federal funding opportunity provided to states through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) received a first-year award from CMS for  $203,670,005.21 to invest in rural capacity, sustainability, and innovation. The program aims to improve access to care through three initiatives: strengthening the healthcare workforce, enhancing technology innovation, and cultivating coordinated care partnerships. Through collaboration among healthcare providers, public health agencies, and community-based organizations, the program seeks to improve health and well-being in rural communities. 

Purpose

Through this funding opportunity, DHS aims to address these challenges by subsidizing the purchase of dental technologies to make care more available to people in rural Wisconsin. These technologies can reduce appointment times, increase patient service volumes, improve patient comfort, and maximize the existing dental workforce. Funding will support the provider's adoption of eligible dental technologies that would otherwise be cost prohibitive. 

The goals of the Rural Dental Efficiency and Access Grant Program are to: 

• Increase access to dental care, particularly for underserved populations in rural and semi-rural Wisconsin who are lower income, uninsured, have Medicaid dental coverage, and/or who otherwise have difficulty seeing a dental provider.  

• Strengthen the sustainability of dental practices in rural and semi-rural areas. 

• Improve oral health outcomes for rural residents. 

Program requirements

Dental providers applying for this funding opportunity must meet all the following requirements: 

• Provide services that benefit people living in rural and semi-rural areas of Wisconsin, outside of metropolitan hubs. See funding opportunity Addendum Exhibit 1 for a definition of rural counties. 

• Use grant funds to purchase eligible dental technologies. All proposed technologies must be clearly linked to increased efficiency, expanded access, and improved service delivery. 

• Describe clear strategies to provide care to patients with Medicaid coverage or others with limited resources to access dental care (e.g. low-income and uninsured). 

• As described in the Application Questions section, applicants must clearly describe how grant funds will be used, what technologies will be purchased, and how the grant will meet community needs. 

Eligible applicants

Applicants must provide services in Wisconsin outside of Milwaukee County and be one of the following serving a rural or semi-rural community (see funding opportunity Addendum Exhibit 1 for a definition of semi-rural and rural counties): 

• A private, non-profit, or public dental clinic or dental practice 

• A federally-qualified health center that provides dental care 

• A nonprofit organization providing dental services 

• A public or Tribal dental clinic  

Application submission

This application must be completed by 11:59 p.m. on July 31, 2026. Only applications submitted through this survey will be considered. 

Applications must include: 

• Responses to the statements in the Application Questions section. Any information beyond the page limit will not be read, reviewed, or scored. 

• Proposed budget and justification 

• Letters of support from each partner with an active role in the project 

The budget, justification, and letters of support do not count toward the narrative response word limit. 

Organizations may request technical assistance for preparing their applications from the University of Wisconsin-Population Health Institute, Wisconsin Office of Rural Health, and Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality. Technical assistance can be requested for describing local health needs using community data, accessing information to quantify the local health context, project evaluation planning, and/or developing performance measures. These partners have no input on funding decisions. To learn more, send a request to RHTP-evaluation@wisc.edu.        

Applicants should reach out directly to DHS at DHSRuralHealth@dhs.wisconsin.gov for questions regarding technical difficulties with the application submission process. Please note that questions about the funding opportunity, including eligibility requirements, budgets, allowable and unallowable expenses, must be submitted by June 26, 2026, and will be answered through published FAQs.   

This program is supported by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award totaling $203,670,005.21 with 100 percent funded by CMS/HHS. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by CMS/HHS, or the U.S. Government.