Rural Healthcare Services Programs

The Rural Health Care Services Outreach Program aims to support organizations to promote rural health care service outreach by improving and expanding the delivery of health care services to include new and enhanced services in rural areas. The program also aims to strengthen local resources and capacity in rural communities. The Rural Health Network Development supports integrated health care networks that address health care needs of targeted rural community. The goals of the program support these networks who collaborate to achieve efficiencies; expand access to, coordinate, and improve the quality of basic health care services and associated health outcomes; and strengthen the rural health care system as a whole. The Rural Health Network Development Planning Program assists in the development of an integrated rural health care network, specifically for entities without a history of formal collaborative efforts. 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 Small Health Care Provider Quality Improvement Program aims to provide support to rural primary care providers for the planning and implementation of quality improvement activities. The ultimate goal of the program is to improve the quality and delivery of rural health care services through promoting the development of evidence-based approaches to the quality and delivery of coordinated care in the primary care setting. Additional objectives of the program include improved health outcomes for patients; enhanced chronic disease management; and better engagement of patients and their caregivers. For more details on the purpose and scope of the Rural Health Care Services programs, refer to the notice of funding opportunity (NOFO).