WellSpan Health will apply $2.8 million from the federal Rural Health Transformation Program across three hospitals. Chambersburg Hospital receives neurosurgical technology upgrades, Waynesboro Hospital renovates its infusion therapy space, and Evangelical Community Hospital replaces power equipment.
Three WellSpan Health hospitals will draw on a $2.8 million state grant to replace aging equipment and rebuild clinical space, marking one of the earlier Pennsylvania awards to reach individual campuses under a new federal rural health program.
Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services issued the award through the Rural Health Transformation Program, a $50 billion initiative that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administers by allocating dollars to state governments rather than distributing them directly to providers. States decide how to apply the money across eligible categories, which include technology, infrastructure, workforce development, behavioral health, maternal health and emergency services.
Grants at this scale typically finance equipment replacement and renovation instead of ground-up construction, and all three WellSpan projects fall within that range. Each is confined to existing clinical buildings.
At WellSpan Chambersburg Hospital, funding covers neurosurgical technology upgrades intended to keep complex procedures local rather than routing patients to distant referral centers. WellSpan Waynesboro Hospital will renovate its infusion therapy space and install new ultrasound and echocardiogram units. Power transition equipment goes in at WellSpan Evangelical Community Hospital, replacing gear that governs how a facility shifts onto backup generation when utility service fails.
Roxanna Gapstur, president and chief executive officer of WellSpan Health, credited partnerships with CMS, the health system’s federal congressional delegation, the Shapiro Administration and the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania. WellSpan announced the award on July 24.
Two of the three campuses sit in Franklin County, where WellSpan operates Chambersburg Hospital and Waynesboro Hospital. Work at all three sites is scheduled to proceed over the next several years.