Rural Residency Planning and Development Program

For program and eligibility questions:
Jason Steele, MPH
301.443.2203
ruralresidency@hrsa.gov

For grants management or budget questions:
Beverly Smith
301.443.7065
ruralresidency@hrsa.gov

Rural Residency Planning and Development Technical Assistance Center (RRPD-TAC):
info@ruralgme.org

Grants.gov contact center:
800.518.4726
support@grants.gov
Self-service knowledge base

HRSA contact center:
877.464.4772
TTY: 877.897.9910
HRSA contact page

SAM.gov:
866.606.8220
Federal service desk

The Rural Residency Planning and Development Program provides grants to expand access to healthcare in rural areas by developing new sustainable rural residency programs, including rural track programs (RTPs). The program will provide start-up funding to create accredited rural residency programs in a qualifying medical specialty.

Awardees are expected to:

• Develop a new rural residency program that is accredited by ACGME
• Finalize a validated sustainability plan that includes ongoing funding streams to sustain long-term resident training after the program is established
• Develop a structured plan to track and publicly report on resident career outcomes after graduation for at least 5 years after the first graduating class to assess retention in rural communities

A detailed list of objectives and required activities is provided in the application instructions.

The program has 2 pathways.

• General Primary Care and High-Need Specialty Pathway: This pathway supports the development of new rural residency training programs in family medicine, internal medicine, preventive medicine, psychiatry, and general surgery.
• Maternal Health and Obstetrics Pathway: This pathway supports the development of new rural residency programs with a focus on obstetrics-gynecology and family medicine with enhanced obstetrical training.

Eligible applicants:

• State, territory, county, city, township, and special district governments
• Independent school districts
• Public, state controlled, and private institutions of higher education
• Native American Tribal governments
• Native American Tribal organizations
• Nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status with the IRS
• For profit organizations
• Small businesses
• Faith-based providers

Award ceiling: $750,000 over the entire project period
Project period: Awards will be funded fully in Year 1 for use of over period of performance from 09/01/2026 to 03/31/2029
Estimated number of awards: 15
Estimated total program funding: $11,250,000

Links to the full announcement, application instructions, and the online application process are available through grants.gov.