Read this in your browser April 24, 2026What's NewWebinar: Sustaining Rural Labor & Delivery Programs – Monday, May 4 at 3:00 pm Eastern. Rural hospitals face ongoing financial and operational pressures that have contributed to the closure of many Labor & Delivery programs nationwide. This webinar, hosted by researchers at the Flex Monitoring Team (FMT) for rural Medicare hospitals and presented by Stroudwater, will highlight practical strategies to help rural hospitals assess and strengthen the financial sustainability of these services. The Federal Office of Rural Health Policy funded the development of the Sustaining Rural Labor & Delivery Programs brief; this webinar will highlight key insights from the brief and cover approaches to improving how costs are tracked and reported, understanding the financial performance of Labor & Delivery services, and identifying opportunities to improve efficiency and partnerships. Attendees will gain actionable insights to support informed decision-making and help maintain access to essential maternity care in rural communities. 2025 National Critical Access Hospital Quality Inventory & Assessment Report. This month, researchers at the Flex Monitoring Team released a high-level summary of data collected during Fall 2025. The Assessment provides information on quality improvement activities at Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), a designation given to eligible rural hospitals by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The Flex Monitoring Team is a consortium of researchers from the Universities of Minnesota, North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Southern Maine. The team is funded by FORHP to analyze CAH data and improvement practices through FORHP’s Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Grant Program (Flex). You can find State Profiles of their work at FlexMonitoring.org. HRSA’s New Strategy for the Home Visiting Workforce. Developed by HRSA’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau in partnership with the Institute for Home Visiting Workforce Development, this strategy reflects more than 15 years of experience through the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program and was shaped by the voices of home visitors, supervisors, and program leaders across the country. ARC Investments Supporting Partnerships in Recovery Ecosystems Initiative (INSPIRE) – Letters of Intent May 12. The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) seeks applicants for their next round of funding for projects that provide workforce training opportunities for individuals in recovery from substance use disorder (SUD). Eligible applicants include state and local governments, Tribes and Tribal consortiums, institutions of higher education, and public or private nonprofit organizations. Projects must serve and benefit counties served by the Appalachian Regional Commission. Applicants who are not yet in ARC’s grant management system should register for Pathways, ARC’s grant management portal, by May 5 to ensure access to the application portal. Required letters of intent are due on May 12. CDC: Prevalence of Selected Chronic Conditions Among Adults Age 45 and Older, by Age and Urbanization Level: United States, 2024. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provide data on the prevalence of heart disease, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and stroke among adults age 45 and older by level of rurality, using data from the CDC’s 2024 National Health Interview Survey. Working on Wellness: The Rural Health and Employment Link. A recent report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond examines the relationship between poor health and employment with a focus on differences in outcomes along the rural-urban continuum. Upcoming: Antibiotic Stewardship for Critical Access Hospitals – Wednesday, May 13 at 2:00 pm Eastern. This 60-minute virtual session will provide technical updates from the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN), a surveillance system for tracking healthcare-associated infections across the United States. The NHSN is maintained by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, whose experts designed this webinar specifically for CAHs. The webinar is hosted by the Rural Quality Improvement Technical Assistance (RQITA) Resource Center, funded by HRSA to support FORHP’s Medicare Beneficiary Quality Improvement Project.
Funding and OpportunitiesDOJ Rural Law Enforcement Violent Crime Reduction Initiative – initiate in Grants.gov by May 27. The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) anticipates 15 awards for law enforcement in rural jurisdictions to prevent, respond to, and reduce violent crime. Eligible applicants are state and local governments, special district governments, and federally recognized Tribal governments. For this funding, the DOJ defines rural as any area or community outside of a standard Metropolitan Statistical Area as defined by the federal Office of Management and Budget. All applicants to DOJ’s funding must submit a Standard Form 424 (SF-424) to Grants.gov by April 27. The SF-424 is a cover sheet, submitted electronically, for most federal grants and cooperative agreements with basic information that helps track your organization through the funding process. The deadline to submit to DOJ’s online system for managing funds, JustGrants, is June 3. VA Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grants – June 12. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) offers grants for community-based organizations providing suicide prevention services for eligible individuals and families. According to the VA, the suicide rate among U.S. Veterans is twice that of non-Veterans, and Veterans are more likely than non-Veterans to live in rural communities. The VA includes a list of SSG Fox SPGP grantees operating in FY 2026.
Rural Health ResearchResearch in this section is located on the HRSA/FORHP-supported Rural Health Research Gateway. Sign up to receive alerts when new publications become available. Overcoming Challenges with Rural-Related Health Data: Lessons Learned from Published Studies. Research is essential for understanding rural communities' health needs and identifying effective programs and policies; however, data quality issues and other limitations can weaken the evidence. A systematic review of rural-related studies using secondary, quantitative data was conducted to identify strategies that could help overcome challenges related to rural data, with a focus on the limitations section of included studies. Trends Among Medicare Special Needs Plan Enrollment in Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Areas. Special Needs Plans (SNPs) are Medicare Advantage (MA) plans that provide benefits and services to people with specific conditions, health care needs, or who also have Medicaid. This brief examines recent trends in MA SNP enrollment by type and geographic variation across metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas.
Policy UpdatesSend questions to ruralpolicy@hrsa.gov. No updates this week.
Resources of the WeekRHIhubs Tools for Success: Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) Starting Points. The FORHP-supported Rural Health Information Hub (RHIhub) makes ongoing updates to its resource page for state-level RHTP information, including a list of state websites, project summaries, budget narratives, and opportunities. Home Visiting Partnerships Serving Native Families: An Extension of the Multi-Site Implementation Study of Tribal Home Visiting (MUSE). Native Families and State Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV). This report from the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) describes common types of State MIECHV partnerships that serve Native families and how they work. MIECHV is administered by HRSA’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau in partnership with the ACF.
Approaching DeadlinesDOJ Adult Treatment Court Program – April 27 DOJ Bureau of Justice Assistance: Programs to Supplement Rural SUD Efforts – Initiate in Grants.gov by April 27 CDC Million Hearts Hypertension Control Challenge – April 30 VA Highly Rural Transportation Grants Program – May 4 ARC Investments Supporting Partnerships in Recovery Ecosystems Initiative (INSPIRE) – Letters of Intent May 12 CMS Now Accepting Applications for the LEAD Model for ACOs – May 17 Become a New Site for the National Health Service Corps – May 19 DOL Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Indian and Native American Program - Employment and Training Grants – May 22 DOT’s Safe Streets for All Grant Program – May 26 DOJ Rural Law Enforcement Violent Crime Reduction Initiative – initiate in Grants.gov by May 27 Indian Health Service Capital Infrastructure Program – May 30 CMS Proposes Updates for the FY 2027 Skilled Nursing Facility Prospective Payment System – Comment by June 1 Proposed 2027 Hospice Rule: Higher Payments Paired with New Oversight Tools – Comment by June 1 CMS Proposes Updates for the FY 2027 Inpatient Rehabilitation Prospective Payment System Facilities – Comment by June 1 CMS Releases 2027 Medicare Inpatient Psychiatric Facility Prospective Payment System Proposed Rule - Comment by June 1 USDA Delta Health Care Services Grant Program – June 1 CMS Proposed Collection in Self-Attestation for Recertification of CORFs, OPT/SLP, RHCs Providers and PXR Suppliers – Comment by June 9 CMS Proposes New Interoperability Standards and Prior Authorization for Drugs – Comment by June 15 FEMA Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities Grants – July 23 NIH Native Collective Research Effort to Enhance Wellness (N CREW) Phase II – July 31
HRSA Delta Rural Integrated Health Network Program – Estimated Post Date April 24 HRSA Rural Residency Planning and Development (RRPD) Program – Estimated Post Date April 28 HRSA Rural Communities Opioid Response Program (RCORP) - Planning – Estimated Post Date May 1 HRSA Rural Communities Opioid Response Program (RCORP) – Impact – Estimated Post Date May 1
Forecasted OpportunitiesHRSA Delta Rural Integrated Health Network Program – Estimated Post Date April 24 HRSA Rural Residency Planning and Development (RRPD) Program – Estimated Post Date April 28 HRSA Rural Communities Opioid Response Program (RCORP) - Planning – Estimated Post Date May 1 HRSA Rural Communities Opioid Response Program (RCORP) – Impact – Estimated Post Date May 1
Ongoing Opportunities - Updated March 2026Bold indicates HRSA- and/or FORHP-funded opportunities. Administration for Children & Families: Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency – Rural Emergency Medical Communications Demonstration Project Delta Region Community Health Systems Development Program EPA Real Water Technical Assistance (RealWaterTA) General Services Administration: Federal Surplus Property Available for Public Use HRSA Needs Rural Reviewers for Grant Applications HRSA National Health Service Corps Medications for Opioid Use Disorder Training HRSA Look-Alike Initial Designation for the Health Center Program Indian Health Service/Department of Defense: Medical Supplies and Equipment for Tribes (Project TRANSAM) Licensure Portability: The Multi-Discipline Licensure Resource Project National Rural Health Resource Center: Rural Hospital Stabilization Program ProviderBridge: Mobilizing Health Care Workforce via Telehealth Rural Graduate Medical Education Planning and Development Small Business Administration Rural Businesses Small Business Administration Guaranteed Loans for Small Business Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration/Federal Emergency Management Agency/: Post-Disaster Crisis Counseling Assistance and Training Program Targeted Technical Assistance for Rural Hospitals Program USDA: National School Lunch Afterschool Snack Program USDA: Summer Food Service Program USDA/National Rural Health Association: Rural Hospital Technical Assistance USDA Rural Development: America’s Healthy Food Financing Initiative USDA Rural Development: Circuit Rider Program – Technical Assistance for Rural Water Systems USDA Rural Development: Community Facilities Programs USDA Rural Development: Emergency Community Water Assistance Grants USDA Rural Development: Grants for Rural and Native Alaskan Villages USDA Rural Development: Intermediary Relending Program – Ongoing with deadlines every quarter USDA Rural Development: Multifamily Housing Loan Guarantees USDA Rural Development: Rural Business Investment Program USDA Rural Development: Rural Energy Savings Program USDA Rural Development: SEARCH – Special Evaluation Assistance for Rural Communities and Households (for Water/Waste Projects) USDA Rural Development: Telecommunications Infrastructure Loans and Loan Guarantees U.S. Department of Transportation: Rural Opportunities to Use Transportation for Economic Success (R.O.U.T.E.S) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: Drinking Water State Revolving Fund U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs: Physical Therapy Telehealth Research Study for Older Veterans – Ongoing until October 2026 UVM Center on Rural Addiction Contingency Management Certificate Course |
