Date: January 10, 2022
Happy New Year from all at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Office of Intergovernmental and External Affair (IEA) Region 7. HRSA has compiled the following funding opportunities, resources, and upcoming events for your review.
FUNDING
Rural Communities Opioid Response Program – Implementation – January 13. HRSA will make approximately 50 awards of $1 million each to rural communities to enhance prevention, treatment, and recovery from substance use disorder. Eligible applicants are domestic public, private, and nonprofit entities that can deliver services in HRSA-designated rural areas, particularly for populations that have historically suffered from poorer health outcomes. The applicant organization must be part of an established network or consortium that includes at least three other separately owned entities.
HRSA Nurse Corps Loan Repayment Program – Extended to January 27. The Nurse Corps Loan Repayment Program offers funding to registered nurses, advanced practice registered nurses and nurse faculty toward payment of their qualifying educational loans in exchange for a two-year service commitment at a health care facility with a critical shortage of nurses or at an eligible school of nursing in the case of nurse faculty. Additional loan repayment is available for a third year of service.
Access to HIV Services for Women and Children – January 28. HRSA expects to make 114 awards with a total investment of $75 million to expand family-centered care for low-income women, infants, children, and youth with HIV. Eligible applicants are existing grantees of the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program Part D and new community-based organizations that can provide services in areas where current projects are ending. The amount for this round of funding has been increased to address areas, primarily rural, with limited resources.
SAMHSA Grants for Rural Emergency Medical Services Training – February 14. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) will make 27 awards of up to $200,000 each to recruit and train emergency medical services (EMS) personnel with a focus on mental and substance use disorders. Eligible applicants are rural EMS agencies operated by a local or tribal government and non-profit EMS agencies.
Nurse Education, Practice, Quality and Retention-Mobile Health Training Program (NEPQR-MHTP)– February 22. HRSA will make approximately 35 awards $35,000,000 each to increase and strengthen the diversity, education, and training of the nursing workforce to provide culturally aligned quality care in rural and underserved areas where there are health care disparities related to access and delivery of care. This program will provide enhanced education and training opportunities within collaborative, reciprocal partnerships, utilizing community-based, nurse-led mobile units. This program aims to strengthen the capacity of nursing students to address and manage Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) and improve health equity for vulnerable populations in rural and underserved areas. The NEPQR-MHTP aims to expand on the nursing education provided by emphasizing leadership and effective communication skills as well as innovative technological methods (i.e. telehealth) to deliver quality care in a rural or underserved environment.
Rural Public Health Workforce Training Network Program (RPHWTN) – March 18. HRSA will make approximately 31 awards of $1,545,000 each to expand public health capacity by supporting health care job development, training and placement in rural and tribal communities. The RPHWTN program addresses the ongoing critical need in health care facilities for trained public health professionals serving rural communities. This is done through the establishment of networks to develop formal training/certification programs in order to help professionals in the following workforce training tracks:
- Track #1 – Community Health Support
- Track #2 – Health IT and/or Telehealth Technical Support
- Track #3 – Community Para-Medicine
- Track #4 – Case Management Staff and/or Respiratory Therapists
Small Health Care Provider Quality Improvement Program – March 21. HRSA will make approximately 40 awards of $200,000 each to support the planning and implementation of quality improvement activities for rural primary care providers or providers of health care services, such as critical access hospitals (CAH), rural health clinics (RHC), or a network of rural health providers, serving rural residents. The goal of the Small Health Care Provider Quality Improvement Program is to promote the development of a quality improvement culture and the delivery of cost-effective, coordinated, culturally appropriate, and equitable health care services in rural primary care settings. Specifically, program objectives include increased care coordination, enhanced chronic disease management, and improved health outcomes for patients. An additional program goal is to prepare rural health care providers for quality reporting and pay-for-performance programs. In order to achieve these goals and objectives, applicants are required to use an evidence-based model or promising practice to demonstrate the following impact areas, by the end of the four-year period of performance:
1) Improved health outcomes,
2) Expanded capacity for essential health care services, and
3) Increased financial sustainability.
Rural Maternity and Obstetrics Management Strategies Program (RMOMS) – April 5. The RMOMS initiative began three years ago to address persistent disparities and lack of obstetric services in rural areas. For this round, applicants can request up to $1 million per year for a four-year program, subject to available funding. Each grantee will build networks for continuum of care, test models to address unmet needs for their target population, and develop sustainable financing. Learn more about the ongoing work of current grantees in the first annual report, and write to RMOMS@hrsa.gov with questions.
UPCOMING MEETINGS / TRAININGS / WEBINARS
Advancing Equity in Maternal & Infant Health – Session #3 – January 11 | 2:00pm CT. The Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA), Office of Intergovernmental and External Affairs (IEA) and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS), Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health invite you to the third and final session in the learning series on Advancing Equity in Maternal & Infant Health. The third session will focus on strategies to address contributors to maternal and infant health disparities. Register for the webinar here. After registering, you will receive the confirmation email containing information about joining the session.
Expanded Eligibility Allows More Rural Clinicians to Qualify for Loan Repayment – Join NHSC for a webinar on Thursday, January 13 at 1pm CT/2pm ET to hear how qualified health care clinicians could receive student loan repayment in return for serving at National Health Service Corps (NHSC)-approved sites – even if their health professional shortage area (HPSA) score has not been competitive for awards in the past. Recent funding increases make it much easier for rural clinicians to qualify for loan repayment under its programs. Find out which program is right for you, and apply to one of the three loan repayment programs. Last application cycle, every eligible NHSC applicant received an award regardless of HPSA score. The deadline to apply through NHSC is Thursday, February 3 at 7:30pm ET., so act quickly!
Office Hours for Rural Health Care Connect – Thursday, January 13 at 2:00 pm ET. The federally funded program that brings telecommunications to rural health care facilities will hold an hour-long session to answer questions about the new online portal for funding requests. The deadline to file for FY2022 funding is April 1.
Grant Writing Session Office Hour: Ask an Expert – January 14 | 10am CT. As a continuation of HRSA grants writing trainings, Heather Zoromski, Executive Director of the DARR Family Foundation, will answer any questions that you may have about applying for grants. Feel free to send questions in advance.
The Rural Emergency Hospital (REH), a New Hospital Type – January 19 | 1:00 p.m. CT. RHIhub webinar on Rural Emergency Hospitals to hear speakers discuss this new hospital type and recommendations from the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services to ensure the success of REHs.
Leveraging Telehealth for Substance Use Disorder Care – January 20 | 2pm CT. The onset of COVID-19 accelerated the adoption of telehealth as an option for health care providers to remotely engage patients in care, including those with substance use disorders (SUDs). Now, as health centers begin to plan delivering care in a post-pandemic environment, examining what strategies to continue remains crucial for engaging and retaining patients in care. In this this webinar, clinician consultants from the National Clinician Consultation Center’s Substance Use Warmline (855-300-3595; nccc.ucsf.edu) will provide an overview of promising practices and considerations for SUD care during the age of telehealth.
Addressing Meth Use in the Midwest: A Brief Overview – January 21 | 10:30am CT. Use of methamphetamine impacts people across the Midwest in many ways. Join the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Region 7 Harm Reduction Workgroup for a series of brief, 30-minute webinars to explore strategies to address meth use, ranging from prevention to treatment. The first webinar will provide an overview of meth use in the Midwest, laying the groundwork for future conversations. Register for the webinar here. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the session.