access- Year-one award
- $218,529,075
- Lead agency
- Dept. of Health and Human Services
- Maternal care in the plan
- Puts a dollar figure on maternal care
- Status
- Not yet solicited
What Nebraska's plan funds for maternal care
The Department of Health and Human Services leads the program, which received $218.5 million for year one, and groups the maternal work under "Keep Care Local." Initiative 2.1, EMS and Perinatal Regionalization, budgets $4 million a year and describes the pairing program directly: "A statewide Maternal-Fetal Medicine (MFM) Rural Provider Pairing Program will connect primary care rural providers with obstetricians. Participating providers will review patient charts for risk factors and co-create a care plan within one week of a first visit to an obstetrician," and "providers will co-manage high-risk pregnancies through secure teleconsultation and coordinated care planning." The program is to be "piloted in the first year of funding at one rural clinic in a maternity desert." The state's Keep Care Local page says perinatal regionalization "supports local providers through teleconsultation with maternal-fetal medicine specialists."
The same initiative develops "a high-risk obstetrics (OB)/neonatal EMS transport system" along "a maternity desert section of I-80," and the narrative says "an on-call MFM consult line will be provided for the initial pilot EMS teams."
Initiative 4.1, Mobile Maternal Care and Training, budgets $6 million a year for mobile units that "deliver services such as prenatal and postpartum care, pregnancy confirmation, fetal monitoring, basic ultrasound, general health screening," with home remote monitoring devices for prenatal patients. Three units at first, expanding to six. This initiative appears in the December 2025 project narrative but not yet on the state's program pages.
What is open, and what comes next
Neither maternal initiative appears on the state's request-for-applications table (updated July 15, 2026), its RFA timeline or its grant opportunities page, which lists only closed rounds. The June 2026 remote patient monitoring awards ($18.2 million to the Nebraska High Value Network among 24 recipients) had no maternal content. DHHS told the legislature in June that the pairing program starts with a pilot at one rural clinic and that the transport system will carry an on-call MFM line.
Who can apply, and where a partner fits
How Nebraska will source the MFM side of the pairing program, by competing it or by contracting an academic or private MFM group, hasn't been announced. The program needs two things a rural clinic can't supply: obstetricians and maternal-fetal medicine physicians available for teleconsultation within a week of a first visit, and an MFM line EMS crews can reach on the road. A telehealth practice fits as that supply, contracted by DHHS or by the clinics and hospitals the program pairs.
Where Ouma fits
How tele-MFM fits Nebraska's model
Co-management is the model Ouma runs with referring practices: the local clinician keeps the patient, and the specialist reviews, plans and consults by telehealth. Ouma provides contracted maternal-fetal medicine coverage and ultrasound interpretation to rural and critical access hospitals and clinics, and can hold the on-call MFM line the transport system needs. Ouma is licensed to practice in all 50 states and is Medicaid-enrolled in 20 states as of August 2026.
See every state's plan side by side or what a partner letter for an application looks like.
Frequently asked questions
Can a clinic apply to join the MFM pairing program?
Not yet. No request for applications has been issued for Initiative 2.1 or 4.1. The state's RHTP mailbox is DHHS.RHTP@nebraska.gov.
Is there a dollar figure for the pairing program alone?
No. The $4 million a year covers Initiative 2.1 as a whole, which includes the EMS transport system and perinatal regionalization work.