Emergency Rural Health Care Grants Track Two: Impact Grants Application Guide
Track Two: Impact Grants
Track Two: Impact Grant funds must be used in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic and to advance ideas and solutions to solve regional rural health care problems to support the long-term sustainability of rural health care. Long-term sustainability is defined as “improved health outcomes, improved access to quality health care, and creating and maintaining sustainable economic development for small communities.”
Grants range from $5 million – $10 million. Grant funds are limited to an applicable percentage of eligible project costs (up to 75 percent) based on population and the median household income of the population served.
USDA anticipates providing up to $125 million in Track Two: Impact funding.
Applicants may request assistance for one or more purposes below for expenses incurred during a three-year award period:
- Establish or scale a regional partnership or consortium of community leaders and health care partners to plan, implement, and evaluate a model(s) to support solving regional health care problems and promote the long-term sustainability of rural health care.
- Establish or scale an evidence-based model and disseminate lessons learned for possible replication in other small communities and regions.
- Identify a health-related problem within the applicant’s region, develop and implement a method and solution to overcome the problem, and conduct a program evaluation to examine health related outcomes, long-term sustainability, and replicability
- Establish a methodology to calculate summary impact measures or an estimated return on investment for the grant funds requested
- Cover the cost of technical assistance to assist with one or more aspects of project implementation, project evaluation, data sharing, and reporting requirements
- Cover indirect costs in an amount up to a federally-negotiated indirect cost rate
USDA encourages applicants to consider projects in the following high need areas: developing health care services that offer a blend of behavioral care with other medical services, encouraging rural residents to seek care at their nearest hospitals, supporting health care as an anchor institution in small communities, and expanding access to telehealth, electronic health data sharing, workforce development, transportation, paramedicine, obstetrics, behavioral health, farmworker health care, and cooperative home care.
To Apply:
Contact your local Rural Development office (a list is available at this link: https://www.rd.usda.gov/about-rd/state-offices) to discuss and submit your application.
Track Two: Impact applications must be received by the applicable Rural Development Office by 4 p.m. local time on October 12, 2021. Track Two: Impact applications received after October 12, 2021 will not be considered.