Rural Health Network Development Planning Program

The Rural Health Network Development Planning Program supports the planning and development of rural integrated health care networks with specific focus on collaboration of entities to establish or improve local capacity and care coordination in underserved communities. Specifically, the program uses the concept of developing networks as a strategy for linking rural health care network participants together to achieve greater collective capacity to overcome local challenges, expand access and improve the quality of care in the rural communities these organizations serve. The program helps network participants work together on three legislative aims: • Achieve efficiencies. • Expand access to, coordinate, and improve the quality of basic health care services and associated health outcomes. • Strengthen the rural health care system as a whole. The intent is that rural health networks will do the following: • Expand access to care. • Increase the use of health information technology. • Explore alternative health care delivery models. • Continue to achieve quality health care across the continuum of care.

These types of domestic* organizations may apply: • Public institutions of higher education • Private institutions of higher education • Nonprofits with or without a 501(c)(3) IRS status • For-profit organizations, including small businesses • State, county, city, township, and special district governments, including the District of Columbia, domestic territories, and the freely associated states • Independent school districts • Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) • Community health centers • Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) • Hospitals • Rural Emergency Hospitals ? Native American tribal governments ? Native American tribal organizations Tribal exception: HRSA is aware that tribes and tribal organizations may have an established infrastructure without separation of services recognized by filing for EINs or UEI. In case of tribes and tribal governments, only a single EIN or UEI located in a HRSA-designated rural area is necessary to meet the network requirements. Tribes and tribal entities under the same tribal governance must still meet the network criteria of three or more entities under the single EIN or UEI. Each tribe or tribal entity must be committed to the proposed approach as evidenced by a signed letter of commitment. Please see the Tribal EIN/UEI exception request attachment for information on how to request this exception. * “Domestic” means the fifty states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau. Individuals are not eligible applicants under this NOFO.

Claire Darnell

301-945-5176