Rural Community Toolbox: Funding & Resources for Rural Communities to Address Substance Misuse

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Rural Residency Planning and Development (RRPD) Program

Link

https://www.hrsa.gov/grants/find-funding/HRSA-25-007

Additional Links

Notice of Funding Opportunity (Grants.gov)

Deadline

Application Deadline: Apr 10, 2025

Sponsor

Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP)

Purpose

Provides funding to establish new, sustainable rural residency programs, defined as accredited medical residency training programs, including the rural track program (RTP) designation, that primarily train in rural locations for greater than 50% of their training and focus on producing physicians to practice in rural communities. Seeks to combat health professional shortages by increasing the number of physicians who are trained and willing to serve rural communities.

This program includes 2 pathways:

  1. General Primary Care and High Need Specialty Pathway supports the development of new rural residency training programs in family medicine, internal medicine, preventive medicine, psychiatry, and general surgery
  2. Maternal Health and Obstetrics Pathway supports the development of new rural residency programs with a focus on training to provide high quality, evidence-based maternity care and obstetrical services in rural areas. Eligible specialties include:
    • Obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN)
    • Family medicine with enhanced obstetrical training

Funds may be used to accomplish program objectives in the following areas:

  • Develop a sustainable and Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)-accredited rural residency program in family medicine, internal medicine, public health, preventive medicine, psychiatry, general surgery, and obstetrics and gynecology.
  • Finalize a validated plan to achieve sustainable and ongoing program funding to support residency training after the program is established
  • Develop a plan to monitor and publicly report on the career outcomes after graduation to determine retention in rural communities for a period of at least 5 years after the first graduating class

A complete list of program goals and objectives can be found in the program guidance.

Amount of Funding

Award ceiling: $750,000
Project period: 3 years
Estimated number of awards: 15
Estimated total program funding: $11,250,000

Who Can Apply

Eligible applicants include:

  • Rural hospitals
  • Rural community-based ambulatory patient care centers, including Rural Health Clinics (RHCs)
  • Tribal governments and tribal organizations
  • Health centers operated by a tribe, tribal organization, or an urban Indian organization
  • Graduate medical consortia, including schools of allopathic medicine, osteopathic medicine, or Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)

Applicants must propose to develop a newly accredited residency program in family medicine with enhanced obstetrics training, internal medicine, preventive medicine, psychiatry, general surgery, or obstetrics and gynecology. Entities that have achieved ACGME accreditation for a residency program by the application closing date are not eligible to apply.

Programs that apply for a permanent complement increase to train additional residents at new rural training site(s) as part of an existing RTP are eligible. Applicants seeking to expand an RTP without adding a new site and those who have already applied for ACGME RTP designation and received a complement increase for a new site are not eligible for this opportunity.

Applicant organizations must propose programs where greater than 50% of residency training will occur in a clinical training site located in a rural area.

Applicants can use the Rural Health Grants Eligibility Analyzer to determine whether a geographical area is considered rural, as determined by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) for this funding opportunity. It is important to note that the FORHP's definition of rural may differ from that of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). This is a particularly important distinction to understand if developing a financial sustainability plan for a rural residency program based on Medicare GME support.

Applications proposing a new residency program in a target area currently served by a previously or currently funded RRPD recipient in the same specialty as the proposed program are not eligible for funding under this opportunity.

Priority is given to proposals under the Maternal Health and Obstetrics Pathway and for applicants who will develop programs in the U.S. territories or 1 of the following states: Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Indiana, Maine, Montana, North Dakota, Nevada, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming.

Geographic Coverage

Nationwide

What This Program Funds

New Program • Training Providers

Application Process

Application requirements, instructions, and other relevant information can be found in the funding announcement.

Applicants are required to notify their State Office of Rural Health (SORH) of their intent to apply to this program.

Contact

For programmatic or technical questions:
Jason Steele, MPH
301-443-2203
ruralresidency@hrsa.gov

For grants management or budget questions:
Beverly Smith
301-442-7065
ruralresidency@hrsa.gov

Rural Awards

Past awards communities have received are described on the program website.

Rural communities who have received funding include:

  • Queen's North Hawaii Community Hospital in Kamuela, Hawaii
  • Woodlawn Hospital in Rochester, Indiana
  • Claiborne Memorial Medical Center in Homer, Louisiana
  • Lakewood Health System in Staples, Minnesota

Topics This Program Addresses

Healthcare Facilities • Healthcare Workforce • Mental Health