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North Dakota Health and Human Services (HHS) is launching a new wave of funding opportunities totaling approximately $50.5 million through the North Dakota Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP), with several applications now open and additional opportunities to be released over the coming days. Together, they represent another major step in implementing the state's nearly $200 million in Year 1 Rural Health Transformation Program funding to strengthen rural healthcare. 

North Dakota Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that residents can now search for mental health and substance use disorder programs in one place through the newly broadened Behavioral Health Program Directory.

Previously known as the North Dakota Mental Health Program Directory, the newly named North Dakota Behavioral Health Program Directory helps North Dakotans easily locate and access behavioral health services across the state. The update is another step in the state’s ongoing efforts to improve coordination and accessibility of behavioral health services.

For the past 10 years, North Dakota Health and Human Services (HHS) has helped thousands of North Dakotans take the first step toward recovery through its Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Voucher program, which helps remove one of the biggest barriers to treatment: the ability to pay for care. 

Established by the North Dakota Legislature in 2015, the SUD Voucher program was created to help individuals access evidence-based substance use disorder treatment and recovery services when financial barriers might otherwise delay or prevent care. Since its inception, 11,690 North Dakotans have been approved for services through the program, connecting individuals and families to treatment, recovery support and hope.

North Dakota Health and Human Services (HHS) is preparing to implement several federally required changes to the state’s Medicaid program over the next two years, including work requirements for some Medicaid Expansion members.

These new requirements are a result of the federal Working Families Tax Cut Act passed by Congress and signed into law on July 4, 2025.

Starting Jan. 1, 2027, adults ages 19 to 64 enrolled in Medicaid Expansion will be required to participate in work, an approved work or training program, volunteer or be enrolled in an education program for at least 80 hours per month to maintain their coverage, unless they qualify for an exclusion.