HRSA seeks applicants for the “Telehealth Network Grant Program (TNGP) (HRSA 16-012) with an estimated total program funding for $6,000,000. The purpose for the TNGP is to demonstrate how telehealth networks in rural, frontier and underserved communities can expand access, coordinate, and improve the quality of healthcare services.
The TNGP grant program is in place to expand the training of healthcare providers, and/or expand and improve the quality of health information available to providers and patients Eligible applicants may include nonprofits, for-profits, faith-based and community-based organizations, and tribal organizations.
The grant program is especially looking to encourage telehealth services to be delivered through School-Based Health Centers (SBHC). SBHCs are strongly encouraged to provide telehealth services for rural children with a focus on asthma, obesity reduction and prevention, behavioral health diabetes, and oral health.
These health conditions were selected from a review of the literature on rural child health as identified by the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation as a way that telehealth can be an effective way to provide service.
Applicants need to describe how the use of telehealth technology may improve outcomes for the target population and set targets for that population in each identified clinical area. For example, to demonstrate expanding access to care, applicants would be expected to show how they improved access to healthcare services that would not reasonably have been available without the use of telehealth technologies.
The closing date for applications is April 8, 2016 with 20 awards expected. For more information, go to www.grants.gov or email Carlos Mena at emena@hrsa.gov or call 301-443-3198.