April 12, 2021
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced measures to improve maternal health in the United States, one being the Rural Maternity and Obstetrics Management Strategies (RMOMS) Program. HRSA expects approximately $3 million available to fund up to three health networks in this cooperative agreement program. The program intends to demonstrate the impact on access to and continuity of maternal and obstetrics care in rural communities through testing models that address the following RMOMS Focus Areas: 1) Rural Regional Approaches to Risk Appropriate Care, 2) Network Approach to Coordinating a Continuum of Care, 3) Leveraging Telehealth and Specialty Care, and 4) Financial Sustainability. The goals of the program are to: (i) improve maternal and neonatal outcomes within a rural region; (ii) develop a sustainable network approach to increase the delivery and access of preconception, pregnancy, labor and delivery, and postpartum services; (iii) develop a safe delivery environment with the support and access to specialty care for perinatal women and infants; and (iv) develop sustainable financing models for the provision of maternal and obstetrics care in rural hospitals and communities.
Moreover, this program will allow awardees to test models in order to address unmet needs for their target population which could include populations who have historically suffered from poorer health outcomes, health disparities and other inequities.
The applicant organization must be part of a group of entities that are either an established or a formal network, which may need to be expanded to meet this program’s network definition. A network is defined as an organizational arrangement among three or more separately owned domestic public and/or private entities, including the applicant organization. For the purposes of this program, the applicant must have a network composition that includes: 1) at least two rural hospitals or Critical Access Hospitals; 2) one health center under section 330 of the Public Health Service Act (Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) or FQHC look-alike); 3) at least one Level III and/or Level IV facility (as defined by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists); 4) regionally and/or locally available social services in the continuum of care (i.e., state Home Visiting and Healthy Start Programs); and 5) the state Medicaid program.
Eligible applicants may request up to $1M each year in the program’s 4-year period of performance September 1, 2021 – August 31, 2025.
View on Grants.gov: https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=329770
For questions about this funding opportunity, please contact Cassandra Phillips: RMOMS@hrsa.gov