Federal Office of Rural Health Policy Announcement

April 29, 2019

Rural Communities Opioid Response Program-Medication-Assisted Treatment Expansion

Deadline: June 10

The Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) released a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) yesterday for the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program-Medication-Assisted Treatment Expansion (RCORP-MAT Expansion).  HRSA plans to invest approximately $8 million in rural communities as part of this funding opportunity.

Successful RCORP-MAT Expansion award recipients will receive up to $725,000 for a three-year period of performance to establish or expand medication-assisted treatment (MAT) in eligible hospitals, health clinics, or tribal organizations located in high-risk rural communities.

View the funding opportunity here:  https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=314041

Eligible applicants include domestic public or private, non-profit or for-profit:

  • Rural Health Clinics, as defined by Social Security Act Section 1861(aa) and 42 CFR Parts 405 and 491;
  • Critical Access Hospitals, as defined by Section 1820 (e) of the Social Security Act and 42 CFR 485 subpart F;
  • Health Center Look-Alikes, defined as entities that meet all Health Center Program statutory, regulatory, and policy requirements but do not receive funding under section 330 of the Public Health Service Act, as amended (see https://bphc.hrsa.gov for more information);
  • Other small rural hospitals with 49 available staffed beds or less, as reported on the hospitals’ most recently filed Medicare Cost Reports; or
  • Tribes or tribal organizations (excluding health centers that receive Health Center Program federal award funding).

All applicants must be located, and all services must be provided, in HRSA-designated rural areas (as defined by the Rural Health Grants Eligibility Analyzer). Applicants do not need to be RCORP-Planning award recipients to apply for this funding opportunity. Applicants may apply for RCORP-MAT Expansion funding if they have applied for RCORP-Implementation funding, but they must detail in their applications how they will avoid duplication of effort and services if awarded both grants.  Award recipients are strongly encouraged to leverage workforce recruitment and retention programs like the National Health Service Corps (NHSC)

Before applying for RCORP-MAT Expansion on grants.gov, applicants must register in grants.gov, SAM, and DUNS.  These registration processes can take up to a month to complete.

FORHP will hold a webinar for applicants on Thursday, May 16, 2019 from 12-1:30 p.m., ET.  A recording will be made available for those who cannot attend.  Please reference page ii in the NOFO for the dial-in and playback information for the webinar.  You can also contact ruralopioidresponse@hrsa.gov for questions pertaining to the NOFO.

To learn more about how HRSA is addressing the opioid epidemic, visit https://www.hrsa.gov/opioids.