HRSA’s Office of Rural Health Policy https://www.hrsa.gov/rural-health/index.html posted grant notice (HRSA-18-121) on May 18, 2018, seeking applications for their “Vulnerable Rural Hospitals Assistance Program” (VRHAP). Funding for $800,000 has been estimated to provide targeted in-depth assistance to vulnerable rural hospitals within communities struggling to maintain healthcare services.
The awardee will work with individual hospitals and their communities on how to address economic challenges, how to understand community health needs and resources, and find ways to ensure that hospitals and communities can keep care local. Perhaps, this can be accomplished with hospitals providing a more limited set of services or by exploring other mechanisms for meeting community healthcare needs.
Eligible applicants can include:
- Public or private non-profit entities
- Faith-based community-based organizations
- Tribes, and tribal organizations
For the purpose of this cooperative agreement, rural hospitals are defined as short term, non-federal general facilities located outside Metropolitan Core-Based Statistical Areas. The hospitals can be located within Metropolitan areas in locations within Rural-Urban Commuting Area codes or have facilities in any location participating in Medicare as Critical Access Hospitals. Hospitals operated by tribes and tribal organizations under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act are also eligible.
Closing date for applications is July 18, 2018. Go to https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/search-grants.html or to https://www.hrsa.gov/rural-health/index.html then click on Rural Health Funding Opportunities for more information. Contact Suzanne Stack at sstack@hrsa.gov or call 301-443.4043 for further details.