Rural Grants, Tools and Resources

Grants Update

• Grant Clearing Houses or Intermediaries

  Visit the AHA Grants page here.

• Current Grant and Funding Opportunities:

  HOSPITALS AND HEALTH SYSTEMS

  Rural Maternity and Obstetrics Management Strategies (RMOMS) Program
  The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) created RMOMS, which is a four-year program structured by one year of planning followed by three years of implementation. HRSA also are funding an evaluation to learn what helps and hinders maternal care and the delivery of high-quality, culturally responsive care in rural areas—and will use these results to replicate the program. Typically announced in the spring. Read the fact sheet here. Contact: Krista Mastel, 301-443-0491 for details.

  Rural Communities Opioid Response Program (RCORP)
  This is a multi-year initiative that addresses barriers to treatment for substance use disorder including opioid use disorder. There are 5 separate components. RCORP provides support to community consortiums in rural communities to prepare individuals with opioid-use disorder to start treatment, implement care coordination practices to organize patient care activities, and support individuals in recovery by establishing new or enhancing existing behavioral counseling, peer support, and alternative pain management activities. Applications are open beginning in the fall. Contact Maribel Nunez, 301-443-0466 or for additional information.

  The Rural Healthcare Provider Transition Project
  This cooperative agreement will provide technical assistance that will assist eligible small rural hospitals and rural health clinics in strengthening their foundation in key elements of value-based care. Typically announced in late winter and early spring. Contact Jeanene Meyers JMeyers@hrsa.gov Phone: (301) 443-2482 for details.

  Small Health Care Provider Quality Improvement Program
  The purpose of the Small Health Care Provider Rural Quality Program is to support planning and implementation of quality improvement activities for rural primary care providers or providers of health care services, such as a critical access hospital or a rural health clinic, serving rural residents. Typically announced in the winter. Contact Katherine Lloyd klloyd@hrsa.gov Phone: (301) 443-2933 for details.

  Rural Health Care Coordination Program
  This program provides support to rural health consortiums in improving access, delivery, and quality of care in rural communities. Award recipients are expected to enhance data sharing and collaboration, strengthen care coordination workforce to meet the healthcare needs within the rural communities, and increase program financial sustainability. Typically announced in the winter. Contact Diana Alatorre, 301-287-2618 for details.

  Rural Health Care Services Outreach Program
  The Outreach Program is a community-based grant program aimed towards promoting rural health care services by enhancing health care delivery to rural underserved populations in the local community or region. Through consortia of local health care and social service providers, communities can develop innovative approaches to challenges related to the specific health needs in rural areas that expand clinical and service capacity in rural communities. Typically announced in the fall. Contact Alexa Ofori RuralOutreachProgram@hrsa.gov Phone: (301) 945-3986 for details.

  Rural Health Network Development Program
  The purpose of the Rural Health Network Development program is to support integrated rural health care networks that have combined the functions of the entities participating in the network, including skilled and experienced staff and a high functioning network board, in order to address the health care needs of the targeted rural community. The program creates an opportunity for rural health networks to collaboratively address the key priorities of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services priorities for mental health, substance use disorder, and value-based care. Typically announced in the late summer and early fall. Contact Robyn Williams rwilliams@hrsa.gov Phone: (301) 443-0624 for details.

  Rural Health Network Development Planning Program
  The purpose of the Network Planning Grants Program is to promote the development of integrated health care networks in order to: (i) achieve efficiencies; (ii) expand access to, coordinate, and improve the quality of basic health care services; and (iii) strengthen the rural health care system as a whole. Typically announced in the fall. Contact Nkem Osian nosian@hrsa.gov Phone: (301) 443-1493 for details.

  Delta Region Community Health Systems Development Program
  The purpose of the Delta Region Community Health Systems Development Program is to improve healthcare delivery in the Delta region through intensive, multi-year technical assistance to eligible healthcare facilities, including critical access hospitals (CAHs), small rural hospitals, rural health clinics, tribal healthcare facilities and other healthcare organizations located in the 252 parishes and counties of the Mississippi Delta region. Typically announced in the winter. Contact Rachel Moscato RMoscato@hrsa.gov Phone: (301) 443-2724 for details.

  Delta States Rural Development Network Grant Program
  The Delta States Rural Development Network Grant Program supports and encourages the development of integrated health care networks to address unmet local health care needs and prevalent health disparities in organizations located in the eight Delta States (Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Tennessee). Specifically the program promotes the planning, implementation, and development of health care networks to: (i) achieve efficiencies; (ii) expand access to, coordinate, and improve the quality of essential health care services; and (iii) strengthen the rural health care system as a whole. Typically announce in the late summer and early fall. Contact Patricia Burbano PBurbano@hrsa.gov Phone: (301) 443-7238 for details.

  WORKFORCE

  Rural Residency Planning and Development Program
  The purpose of this grant program is to support the development of new rural residency programs in family medicine, internal medicine, public health and general preventive medicine (hereafter referred to as “preventive medicine”), psychiatry, general surgery, and obstetrics and gynecology, to address the physician workforce shortages and challenges faced by rural communities. Rural residency programs are accredited medical residency training programs that primarily train residents in rural training sites for greater than 50 percent of their total time in residency, and focus on producing physicians who will practice in rural communities. Typically announcements are made in the fall. Contact Sheena Johnson ruralresidency@hrsa.gov Phone: (301) 945-9639 for details.

  Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education (THCGME) Program
  The purpose of the THCGME Program is to support the training of residents in primary care residency training programs in community-based ambulatory patient care centers. Programs will prepare residents to provide high quality care, particularly in rural and underserved communities, and develop competencies to serve these diverse populations and communities. Two award types are available:

  1. Expansion awards for an expanded number of resident FTE positions at existing HRSA THCGME Programs.
  2. New awards to support new resident FTE positions at new Teaching Health Centers (THCs)

  Typically announced in the summer. Contact Kristin Gordon kgordon@hrsa.gov Phone: (301) 443-0337 for details.

  Nurse Anesthetist Traineeships
  The Nurse Anesthetist Traineeship (NAT) Program aims to increase the number of Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) providing care, especially to rural and underserved populations. Eligible applicants are accredited schools of nursing, nursing centers, academic health centers, state or local governments, and other public or private nonprofit entities determined appropriate by the Secretary. Typically announced in the winter. Contact Santhana Webb SWebb@hrsa.gov Phone: (301) 443-3524 for details

  Rural Public Health Workforce Training Network Program
  The purpose of this program is to expand public health capacity by supporting health care job development, training and placement in rural and tribal communities. The expected impact of this program will help enhance clinical and operational capacity in order to meet the increased demand to adequately address the population health needs of its rural communities affected by COVID-19.

  BROADBAND AND TELEHEALTH

  Federal Communications Commission Rural Health Care Program
  The Rural Health Care Program, provides funding to eligible health care providers for telecommunications and broadband services necessary for the provision of health care. The Rural Health Care Program is currently made up of two programs: the Healthcare Connect Fund Program and the Telecommunications Program. The FCC uses the Universal Service Fund (USF) to provide support for both telecommunications and advanced telecommunications and information services for eligible health care providers.

  ReConnect Loan and Grant Program
  The U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural eConnectivity Broadband Loan and Grant Program (ReConnect) provides funding to for the costs of construction, improvement, or acquisition of facilities and equipment needed to provide broadband servicae in eligible rural area, which is defined as 100 megabits per second (Mbps) downstream and 20 Mbps upstream. For more information contact Laurel Leverrier, 202.720.9554, laurel.leverrier@usda.gov

  Telehealth Network Grant Program
  The program uses telehealth networks to improve healthcare services for medically underserved people in urban, rural, and frontier communities.
  This program expands and improves:

  • Access, coordination, and quality of health care services
  • Training of health care providers
  • Quality of health information

  The current TNGP promotes the use of rural tele-emergency services through telehealth networks. This helps networks deliver 24-hour Emergency Department (ED) consultation services for rural providers without emergency care specialists. For more information contact Carlos Mena Email: cmena@hrsa.gov Phone: 301-443-3198

  Telehealth Technology-Enabled Learning Program
  This program connects specialists at academic medical centers with primary care providers in rural and underserved areas. It provides evidence-based training and support to providers to help treat patients with complex conditions. The TTELP creates and teaches models of professional education that can be adapted for diverse populations. For more information contact Melody Williams Email: MWilliams1@hrsa.gov Phone: 301-287-2616

  The U.S. Department of Agriculture Distance Learning and Telemedicine Program helps rural communities use the unique capabilities of telecommunications to connect to each other and to the world, overcoming the effects of remoteness and low population density. For example, this program can link teachers and medical service providers in one area to students and patients in another. For more information contact dltinfo@usda.gov, (202) 720-0800, General Field Representatives

• Management Tools

  The National Rural Health Resource Center (The Center)
  The National Rural Health Resource Center (The Center) announces a new COVID-19 Collection located on The Center’s website. This collection consists of trusted and reliable resources, such as the COVID-19 Funding Sources along with standing links FAQs, webinars, tools, and trainings. The Center aims to help direct the most up-to-date and relevant tools and resources to rural hospitals, clinics, and their communities. This Collection is updated regularly to help assist with the abundance of information relating to COVID-19.

  TRACIE Report on COVID-19 Challenges to Rural Health
  The Technical Resources, Assistance Center, and Information Exchange (TRACIE) is a site created by the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. In this report, TRACIE explains and provides data for pandemic challenges specific to rural populations and health care facilities. . The challenges are grouped into two main categories: those specific to healthcare facilities, and those related to at-risk populations who reside in rural areas. Considerations for meeting each challenge are also provided. More information and resources for emergency preparation and response can be found on the TRACIE website.

  MHA COVID-19 Rural Hospital Compendium
  Missouri Hospital Association published a COVID-19 Rural Hospital Compendium to identify successes, and establish current and future advocacy and policy priorities, to help rural hospitals navigate the crisis. MHA’s efforts in these areas and others are ongoing, including continued engagement with Gov. Parson and members of Missouri’s congressional delegation. Their support has been essential to our collective efforts to manage the state’s health care and hospital resources.

  COVID-19 Workforce Virtual Toolkit
  On April 22, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Assistant Secretary of Preparedness and Response (ASPR) released a new toolkit to help state and local healthcare decision makers maximize workforce flexibilities when confronting COVID-19 in their communities. The toolkit contains a number of “Resource Collections” on topics that have been of particular interest to rural providers including scope of practice expansions, licensure, EMS resources, and volunteer workforce needs, among other workforce and training resources.

  340B Program: A Prescription for Success
  Gain insight about ways to maintain compliance while optimizing the 340B Drug Pricing Program. Understand possible impact of potential legislative and CMS changes to the 340B Drug Pricing Program. This webinar presented the 340B Drug Pricing Program Hospital Guide, and discusses eligibility, compliance, billing and benefits of participation in the 340B Drug Pricing Program. Claire E. Johnson, RHIA, Senior Managing Consultant, BKD, LLP presents key strategies for considering the 340B Program.

  Social Determinants of Health in Rural Communities Toolkit
  This toolkit from RHIhub assembles resources and model programs that support rural organizations in implementing programs to address social determinants of health in their communities. Learn how to define, understand, and address social determinants of health and overcome barriers specific to rural areas. Created in collaboration with the NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis. It may be found at https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/toolkits/sdoh.

  Care Management Medicare Reimbursement Strategies for Rural Providers
  CMS has established Medicare billing codes for services intended to keep beneficiaries healthy and better coordinate services to support beneficiaries at home. Each of the guides below provides a brief overview and links to key documents to help rural healthcare professionals, practices, and hospitals understand the billing code, consider the benefit to their patients and organization, and begin billing for the code. These guides include:

  • Annual Wellness Visits: Yearly visit to review a beneficiary’s medical and social history and provide counseling about preventive services.
  • Chronic Care Management: Monthly non-face-to-face support for beneficiaries with two or more chronic conditions.
  • Transitional Care Management: Certain non-face-to-face services and face-to-face visit for beneficiaries in the 30 days after discharge from an acute care setting.
  • Principal Care Management: Monthly non-face-to-face support for beneficiaries with a single high-risk disease. See the final rule in the Federal Register for more information. (New in 2020).

  More information on care management can also be found on the Care Management section of the CMS website.  

  Best Practice Concepts in Revenue Cycle Management Guide
  This guide provides rural hospital executive and management teams with generally accepted best practice concepts in revenue cycle management so that they may consider opportunities for performance improvement within their own hospitals and individual departments. It is also designed to assist State Offices of Rural Health directors and Flex Program coordinators in gaining a better understanding of the revenue cycle best practices so that they may develop educational trainings to further assist rural hospitals with performance improvement. National Rural Health Resource Center (The Center), BKD LLP, October 2019

  Rural Hospital Toolkit for Transitioning to Value-based Systems
  This toolkit shares best practices for improving financial, operational and quality performance that position rural hospitals and networks for the future. The Toolkit outlines strategies for transitioning to value-based payment and population health. The Center researched and chose only resources, tools and webinars from industry leaders to include. The Toolkit is meant to be a “one-stop shop” for the best health care has to offer to assist organizations to improve performance. Join us for this webinar to learn more about the Toolkit and harvest the resources for your organization’s use.

  The Community Health Assessment Toolkit
  This is a web-based tool that offers a nine-step pathway to guide and support a robust, community-engaged health assessment process. Newly revised to better address the full cycle from assessment through implementation, this toolkit provides strategies for each step of the process and a wealth of resources, including The Guide to Community Preventive Services and other sources of evidence-based interventions. This is a product of the Association for Community Health Improvement and may be found here.

  The Rural Community Health Gateway
  Resources to assist you at every stage of program implementation, from finding an approach, to securing funding, to planning for long-term sustainability. It is a resource to assist you at every stage of program implementation, from finding an approach, to securing funding, to planning for long-term sustainability. The Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) supports a range of programs and tools to help rural communities improve the health of their residents. This website highlights a number of these resources

  Rural Suicide Prevention Toolkit
  The toolkit compiles evidence-based and promising models and resources to support organizations implementing suicide prevention programs in rural communities across the United States. The modules in the toolkit contain resources and information focused on developing, implementing, evaluating, and sustaining rural suicide prevention programs. 

  Integrating Behavioral Health Toolkits
  This set of 4 toolkits from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) aims to assist organizations and providers with the integration of behavioral health care into their settings. The toolkits include interactive resources, guides and assessments such as tools exploring the business case, organizational assessments and partnership checklists. Visit the SAMHSA website here.

  The Rural Opportunity Map
  A unique collection of data and tools, the Rural Opportunity Map uses data sets on broadband infrastructure, education attainment, young companies, and other local assets. A map section for local leaders is designed to help them discover and learn from peer communities. Developing sections help decode the many definitions of rural across federal entities, help investors find options in rural Opportunity Zones, and track trends in rural health care.  

  Economic Impact Analysis Tool
  The EIA Tool tracks your program dollars as they flow through the local community, adding up jobs created, spending supporting local business and taxes, new or expanded healthcare services and their impact on the well-being of the population. Essentially the tool translates project-specific impacts into community-wide effects.

  Evidence-Based Toolkits for Rural Community Health
  Twenty-one step-by-step guides to help you build effective community health. Resources and examples are drawn from evidence-based and promising programs. By learning from programs that are known to be effective, you can make the best use of limited funding and resources. 

  Rural Community Ambulance Agency Transformation Toolkit
  The Rural Community Ambulance Agency Transformation Readiness Assessment and associated resources aim to help ambulance agency leaders in rural America assess the state of their agency's readiness in core competency areas. This assessment follows the Critical Access Hospital (CAH) Blueprint for Performance Excellence, adapted specifically for rural ambulance agencies, from the Baldridge Excellence Framework for Health Care. It provides resources and tools to assist rural ambulance agency leaders to succeed in moving from volume to value in their agency's culture and operations. 

  Emergency Medical Services Toolkit
  This EMS Toolkit is a set of resources developed for rural Emergency Medical Services (EMS) organizations, which are often run by volunteers. The toolkit addresses common issues that these important community entities face to keep their organizations staffed, funded and running smoothly. 

  “Urgent Matters” Toolkit
  The kit is a collection of strategies and tools designed to target specific issues facing hospital emergency departments. This toolkit has been developed by hospitals across the country in conjunction with Urgent Matters. Our goal is to continue to grow and expand the toolkit and make these resources available to the public. For more information or to submit at tool please contact Urgent Matters at info@urgentmatters.org. 

  Increasing Access to Transportation in Rural Communities: The Rural Transportation Toolkit
  Access to transportation is an enduring challenge in many rural communities. As part of the Rural Health Outreach Tracking and Evaluation project, the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) developed the Rural Transportation Toolkit to identify and disseminate promising programs and resources that can increase access to transportation for people living in rural communities. Find the toolkit at

  National Rural Health Resource Center
  Strike the motherload of toolkit references at the National Rural Health Resource Center by searching toolkit 

  The National Rural Health Resource Center's Resource Library features webinars, presentations, articles and toolkits developed by trusted industry leaders to guide and support rural health stakeholders. Visit a portal to see resources related to a topic, learn from success stories in our hospital and network spotlights or use the search bar on this site to search the entire library. The site is funded by HRSA Federal Office of Rural Health Policy. It is located here

  Community Care Coordination and Chronic Care Management Hospital Best Practices and Recommended Strategies
  The tools and resources help leaders with community health planning and guide hospitals with developing and implementing Patient-Center Medical Home (PCMH) and other community care coordination models, as well as chronic care management services.

  • Findings and Guide from the 2019 Rural Care Coordination and Population Health Management Summit: 
    • Explore the findings report from the 2019 Rural Care Coordination and Population Health Management Summit
    • a short video featuring panelists from the Summit, 
    • the webinar playback of the guide and report, and
    • the Rural Hospital Guide to Improving Care Management.

Resources