Who can apply:
You can apply if you are a domestic public or private organization.
Types of eligible organizations
These types of domestic* organizations may apply:
• Public institutions of higher education
• Private institutions of higher education
• Non-profits 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 freely associated states
• Independent school districts
• Native American tribal governments
• Native American tribal organizations
*“Domestic” means the 50 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
Summary
The Federal Office of Rural Health Policy is issuing this NOFO for a five-year cooperative
agreement to support the National Rural Health Information Clearinghouse Program.
The goal of the clearinghouse is to serve as a national central resource to anyone
looking to know more about rural health and serving rural communities. The
clearinghouse will provide information, data, tools, and news related to rural health to
support improving health care in rural areas.
Purpose
The purpose of this program is to maintain and expand a national clearinghouse for
information on rural health that supports improving health care in rural areas,
including access to health care. The clearinghouse should build upon federally funded
resources that currently exist, and will serve as a primary resource for information,
opportunities, and tools related to rural health nationally.
Program requirements and expectations
FORHP is funding a cooperative agreement to one recipient to support the
dissemination of rural health information that is publicly and freely accessible in a
centralized repository maintained and expanded by the recipient. This program will be
a national resource for rural communities for improving health care. Over 60 million
Americans live in rural areas.[1] Rural Americans are often older, sicker, poorer, and
more likely to die prematurely than their urban counterparts.[2] [3] Access to health care
services is lower in rural areas, with many areas facing workforce shortages of essential
providers like doctors, dentists, and nurses, as well as many residents needing to travel
to reach a hospital or clinic.[3] Understanding the rural health landscape and the impact
of various interventions is crucial to informing efforts to reduce disparities between
rural and urban areas. Rural providers, policymakers, and the public need high-quality
information to understand what works in rural health care to improve outcomes in rural
communities nationwide.
This program will support rural providers, community leaders, and community
organizations in learning evolving best practices, and identifying national, state, and
local resources that may be available. It will share innovations developed by rural
community-based organizations that focus on health and health care. The program
also supports policy makers by creating a reliable source for rural-specific policy
information and analysis. To accomplish these goals and the broader purpose of
improving health care in rural areas, this program has three primary objectives:
• Disseminate a wide range of up-to-date rural health information to diverse
audiences nationally in a publicly and freely accessible manner.
• Identify and inform rural health providers and other interested parties of the latest
relevant rural health news and developments in real-time.
• Analyze and share best practices, innovations, and policy updates pertaining to
rural health care.