Rural Health Research Center Program | HRSA 24 004

Opportunity Information: Apply for HRSA 24 004

The Rural Health Research Center (RHRC) Program is a Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) cooperative agreement opportunity designed to fund research centers that produce high-quality, impartial, and policy-relevant rural health services research. The main goal is to generate evidence that helps improve health care in rural areas by examining how real-world factors such as financing and payment systems, organizational structures, workforce and service delivery models, technology, social conditions, and patient behaviors shape access to care, quality of care, and health care costs in rural communities. The emphasis is on research that can directly inform decisions made by providers, health system leaders, and policymakers at the federal, state, and local levels.

Funded recipients are expected to operate as research centers with clearly defined rural health research topic areas (areas of concentration). These topic areas must be tied to policy issues that matter for improving rural health care and should be issues with staying power, meaning they are of ongoing interest and importance to rural providers, rural stakeholders, rural communities, and policymakers. The work is meant to be policy-oriented health services research, not clinical trials, biomedical research, or direct delivery of health care services. Projects can include original primary research and secondary data analysis, and applicants may also propose literature reviews, syntheses, or updates to prior research when that is the best way to produce timely, useful insights. The balance between original research and other types of products is not fixed in advance and will be negotiated with HRSA's Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP).

A key expectation of the program is that findings will be translated into practical, publicly available products. Recipients are expected to synthesize results into policy briefs written for non-technical audiences so that decisionmakers can easily understand and use the evidence. Research outputs supported by the program will be made publicly accessible through the Rural Health Research Gateway (https://www.ruralhealthresearch.org), helping ensure the work reaches national, state, and local audiences and can be applied to identify barriers to rural care and potential policy or program solutions.

The program provides four-year awards. Applicants may apply for the base RHRC award only, or they may apply for the base award plus an optional supplement. The base award can be up to $700,000 per year for four years. The optional RHRC supplement can be up to $250,000 and may be awarded no more than once per year during each year of the four-year period of performance. Supplemental funding is not guaranteed; it is awarded at HRSA's discretion, depends on annual appropriations, and is contingent on strong performance under the base award, with selection guided by the supplement review criteria described in the opportunity materials (including Attachment 4 guidance).

Eligibility is broad. Public and private organizations may apply, including nonprofit and for-profit entities, small businesses, and higher education institutions, as well as various government entities (state, county, city or township, special districts, and independent school districts). Federally recognized tribal governments and other tribal organizations are eligible. Applicants must be located in an eligible U.S. jurisdiction, including the United States and certain territories and freely associated states: Puerto Rico, Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau. The opportunity is listed as HRSA-24-004, categorized as a discretionary cooperative agreement in the health activity area (CFDA 93.155), with an anticipated eight awards and an original closing date of May 23, 2024.

• The Health Resources and Services Administration in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Rural Health Research Center Program" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.155.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-03-22.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-05-23. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 8 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, Small businesses, Others.

Apply for HRSA 24 004

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