Rural Maternity and Obstetrics Management Strategies Program

This notice announces the opportunity to apply for funding under the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Rural Maternity and Obstetrics Management Strategies (RMOMS) program. The purpose of the RMOMS program is to improve access to and continuity of maternal and obstetrics care in rural communities. The goals of the RMOMS program are to: (i) improve maternal and neonatal outcomes within a rural region; (ii) develop a sustainable network approach to increase the delivery and access of preconception, pregnancy, labor and delivery, and postpartum services; (iii) develop a safe delivery environment with the support and access to specialty care for perinatal women and infants; and (iv) develop sustainable financing models for the provision of maternal and obstetrics care in rural hospitals and communities. Applicants are encouraged to propose innovative ways to achieve these goals through an established or formal regional network structure. This program intends to demonstrate the impact on access to and continuity of maternal and obstetrics care in rural communities through testing models that address the following RMOMS Focus Areas: 1) Rural Regional Approaches to Risk Appropriate Care 2) Network Approach to Coordinating a Continuum of Care 3) Leveraging Telehealth and Specialty Care 4) Financial Sustainability Applicants are required to incorporate all four of the RMOMS Focus Areas in their proposals. Additionally, applicants are required to address the focus-specific prompts listed below as they prepare a response. Responses do not have to be limited to these items and may include additional information related to the RMOMS Focus Areas.

Eligible applicants shall be domestic public or private, non-profit or for-profit, entities, including faith-based and community-based organizations, tribes, and tribal organizations. The applicant organization may be located in an urban or rural area but must have demonstrated experience serving, or the capacity to serve, rural underserved populations. However, all activities supported by this program must exclusively target populations residing in HRSA-designated rural counties or rural census tracts in urban counties. To ascertain whether a particular county or census tract is rural, please refer to https://data.hrsa.gov/tools/rural-health?tab=Address. Applicants should list the rural areas (counties) that will be served. Proposed counties should be fully rural, but if counties are partially rural counties, please include the rural census tract(s) in the Project Abstract. The applicant organization should also describe their experience and/or capacity serving rural populations in the Project Abstract section of the application. It is important that applicants list the rural counties (or rural census tract(s) if the county is partially rural) that will be served through  their proposed project, as this will be one of the factors that will determine the applicant organization’s eligibility to apply for this funding.

Cassandra Phillips, MPH

(301)945-3940