Publication Date: October 6th, 2021
Publication Type(s): Policy Brief
Topic(s): Healthcare Access, Networking and Collaboration, Quality
Author(s): Rydberg K, Henning-Smith C, Tuttle M
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) provides grants to rural organizations to plan for the development of networks in order to build partnerships, foster collaboration, and improve access to quality care for rural residents. These grants, administrated by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy’s (FORHP) Community-Based Division, provide up to $100,000 over 12 months to rural grantees to provide support for a planning period to develop such a network. HRSA offers additional funding that grantees can apply for that support the implementation of rural health networks after the planning period. Despite the novelty and importance of this grant mechanism, relatively little is known about how successful grantees are in planning for their network and whether they secure additional funding or resources to develop and sustain a network.
This brief uses interview data from the most recent cohort of grantees to finish the program in order to assess successes and challenges related to funding and sustaining network planning efforts, as well as general barriers and facilitators of success during the grant year.