Rural Health
Programs specifically targeting rural health challenges.
Rural Emergency Medical Services Training
This program recruits and trains EMS personnel to provide immediate emergency care and rapid hospital transport in rural communities. As first responders, EMS personnel deliver life-saving interventions—such as opioid overdose reversal, buprenorphine initiation, CPR, and oxygen administration—helping reduce strain on local hospital resources.
Regional Pediatric Prevention Network
The purpose of this program is to support a Regional Pediatric Prevention Network (RPPN). The RPPN strengthens local and regional capacity to care for children during disasters and emergencies through community partnerships, coordinated pediatric preparedness, and dissemination of research-informed pediatric disaster care. The RPPN will include at least 10 children’s hospitals, or their university pediatric partners, funded through two primary awards. It will also include community partners working with these hospitals. Each of the 10 Children’s Hospital centers will advance pediatric emergency and disaster preparedness at the local, regional, and national levels, including for children with special health care needs and behavioral health concerns, children living in poverty, and children in rural, remote, and tribal areas.
Rural Hospital Provider Assistance Program
The Rural Hospital Provider Assistance Program provides direct financial assistance to eligible small hospitals to help stabilize operations and sustain access to care in financially vulnerable communities. Eligible hospitals must have no more than 50 inpatient beds and a Medicare wage index value below 0.90. The program is designed to provide targeted support to hospitals facing structural payment disadvantages, with the goal of maintaining essential services and preventing avoidable closures.
Nurse Education, Practice, Quality, and Retention - Transition to Practice Program (NEPQR-TPP)
The Nurse Education, Pracitce, Quality and Retention - Transition to Practice Program (NEPQR-TPP) aims to increase the nursing workforce and address the nursing shortage in rural and medically underserved communities, by supporting innovative educational and clinical training opportunities.
Delta Rural Integrated Health Network Program
The Delta Rural Integrated Health Network Program seeks to improve healthcare delivery in the region by supporting the development of integrated health networks among rural hospitals, primary care clinics, behavioral health providers and other essential services.
Rural Community Health Support Program
The purpose of the Rural Community Health Support Program cooperative agreement is to develop, deliver, and coordinate nationally available technical assistance that supports community-based organizations and rural health stakeholders serving rural populations to improve and expand delivery and access to quality care for rural communities.
Technology-enabled Collaborative Learning Program
The Technology-enabled Collaborative Learning Program will support the use of technology-enabled collaborative learning to improve retention of health care providers and increase access to health care services in rural and underserved areas and populations.
Rural Communities Opioid Response Program (RCORP)-Impact
The Rural Communities Opioid Response Program (RCORP)–Impact funds rural communities to drive measurable improvements in access to integrated, coordinated treatment and recovery services for substance use disorder (SUD), including opioid use disorder (OUD). Its long-term aim is to reduce morbidity and mortality associated with SUD and enable sustained recovery and well-being. The program supports: New or expanded evidence-based SUD prevention, treatment, and recovery services in rural areas;Coordination across health and supportive social services to enable sustained, long-term recovery;A larger, more responsive workforce to address SUD-related needs; andMulti-sector community networks to strengthen and sustain local service delivery.The focus of RCORP-Impact is on reducing the impact of opioid misuse on rural America. However, HRSA recognizes that people who misuse opioids often struggle with other substances as well, including alcohol. Therefore, RCORP-Impact supports a comprehensive approach to address all SUD, including OUD, within a continuum of mental, behavioral, and related social supports.
Rural Residency Planning and Development Program
The Rural Residency Planning and Development (RRPD) program improves and expands rural health care access. It does this by developing new, accredited, sustainable rural residency programs, including rural track programs (RTPs). Newly created rural physician residency programs increase training and ultimately practice in rural areas to address physician shortages. The RRPD program provides start-up funding to create new rural residency programs in qualifying medical specialties. Long-term sustainability funding must come from viable and stable sources, such as Medicare, Medicaid, and other public or private sources. Qualifying medical specialties are: Family medicine.Internal medicine.Preventive medicine.Psychiatry.General surgery.Obstetrics and gynecology.For this notice of funding opportunity (NOFO), rural residency programs: Are accredited physician residency programs.Train residents in clinical training sites that are physically located in a rural area as defined by HRSA’s Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) for greater than 50 percent of their total time in residency.Focus on preparing physicians to practice in rural communities.
Rural Health Network Advancement Program
The Rural Health Network Advancement Program is a pilot initiative to support networks comprised of independent rural hospitals and clinics in integrated network collaboration. It bridges support to offset small scale structural barriers that make it difficult for rural providers to compete in an increasingly consolidated health care system landscape and is designed to help bring economic efficiencies to small independent rural entities by expanding and enhancing their ability to strengthen operations, preserve existing services, and build new lines of care through integrated network collaboration that preserves local autonomy.
Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program Foundational and Applied Science Program
The AFRI Foundational and Applied Science Program supports grants in six AFRI priority areas to advance knowledge in both fundamental and applied sciences important to agriculture. The six priority areas are: Plant Health and Production and Plant Products; Animal Health and Production and Animal Products; Food Safety, Nutrition, and Health; Bioenergy, Natural Resources, and Environment; Agriculture Systems and Technology; and Agriculture Economics and Rural Communities. Research-only, extension-only, and integrated research, education and/or extension projects are solicited in this Request for Applications (RFA). See Foundational and Applied Science RFA for specific detail.
Health Equity Data Access Program (HEDAP)
The Health Equity Data Access program (HEDAP) provides funding for six (6) “seats” in the CMS Virtual Research Data Center (VRDC). The VRDC assists researchers in gaining access to CMS restricted data for minority health research. Seats, in this context are defined as an individual user with VRDC access. These researchers will conduct health services research on health care topics such as physical health, oral health, behavioral health, population health, and social determinants of health focusing on, but not limited to, racial and ethnic minority groups; people with disabilities; members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) community; individuals with limited English proficiency; individuals residing in rural areas; and individuals (including children, youth, and families) adversely affected by persistent poverty or inequality. The HEDAP supports specific applied research projects that relate to creative and innovative methods utilizing CMS data to identify, document, assess, and evaluate health disparities among Medicare and Medicaid and CHIP enrollees. The project should enhance the capacity of the researcher to understand and utilize CMS data in future research projects. Additionally, HEDAP encourages cutting-edge proposals that explore intersectionality. “Intersectionality” means that people belong to more than one group and, therefore, may have overlapping health and social inequities, as well as overlapping strengths and assets. Results of the HEDAP will provide CMS and its partners, (e.g. Quality Improvement Organizations, Hospital Engagement Networks, and other stakeholders) with actionable information on the subgroups of enrollees. This will aid the efforts of CMS and its agents to identify and eradicate health disparities in underserved populations. VRDC seat access will be funded for a period of 36 months each, based on the availability of funds.