Southern Arizona hospital gets $10M federal grant to expand rural health care access

PHOENIX — A southern Arizona hospital was awarded a federal grant of just under $10 million to expand rural health care access, the Biden administration announced Tuesday.

Copper Queen Community Hospital in Bisbee will use the funding on a 27,000-square-foot expansion project. The addition will house operating rooms, pre- and post-operative areas, a sterile processing area and a new unit for inpatient beds.

Current services will move into the new facilities, allowing the hospital to repurpose existing areas for outpatient behavioral health care with tele-psych, specialty physician offices, expanded pharmacy and a staff training center.

The Bisbee Hospital Association is partnering with other Southern Area Hospital Association members to support the project, which will benefit 27,820 people, according to the USDA grant list.

How many Emergency Rural Health Care Grants were awarded?

The funding is part of $129 million in new Emergency Rural Health Care Grants awarded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

More than 170 rural health care organizations will be able to expand critical services through the grants, which were made possible by the American Rescue Plan Act signed by President Joe Biden in 2021.

The Bisbee hospital was the only Arizona recipient.

“USDA’s Emergency Rural Health Care Grants are helping strengthen rural America’s health care infrastructure to build for the future,” USDA Deputy Secretary Torres Small said in a press release.

originally published on KTAR