For programmatic or technical questions:
Tracey Smith, MSc, MPH
301.443.3612
tsmith @hrsa.gov

For grants management or budget questions:
Brad Barney
301.443.6916
bbarney@hrsa.gov

The Rural Residency Planning and Development Program provides grants to develop new rural residency programs or Rural Training Tracks (RTT) in family medicine, internal medicine, and psychiatry to support expansion of the physician workforce in rural areas.

The program's objectives are:

1. Develop a newly accredited, rural family medicine, internal medicine, or psychiatry residency program or RTT based in a rural area that is sustainable after the period of performance ends
2. Have a sustainability plan that includes ongoing funding to sustain resident training once the program has been established
3. Have the ability and a structured plan to track residents' career outcomes after graduation to determine retention in rural communities

In addition, programs should:

• Provide interprofessional training specific to the needs of the rural health community, which may include training with behavioral health professionals, nutrition specialists, and pharmacists
• Address other known challenges specific to rural residency programs or RTTs, such as having sufficient specialty and subspecialty preceptors and ensuring residents will encounter a high enough volume of patients

Eligible applicants include:

• Rural hospitals
• Rural community-based ambulatory patient care centers including Federally Qualified Health Centers, community mental health centers, and Rural Health Clinics
• Health centers operated by the Indian Health service, an Indian tribe or tribal organization, or an urban Indian organization
• Schools of allopathic and osteopathic medicine
• Public and private nonprofit graduate medical education consortia
• Entities such as faith-based and community-based organizations, capable of carrying out the project activities

Either the applicant or the consortium's primary training partner must be located in a rural area.

Award ceiling: $750,000
Project period: 3 years
Estimated number of awards: 28
Estimated total program funding: $21,000,000

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

Applicant webinar recording:
Playback number: 800.839.2204
Passcode: 5678