As California’s rural hospitals work to secure funding via the federal Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP), a new tool is available to help them find partners to prepare their grant proposals.
The RHTP, which awarded California $234 million in its first year, was created to improve health care access, quality, and outcomes in rural areas. Now, as funding opportunities begin to materialize, CHA has partnered with the California State Rural Health Association and the California Primary Care Association to form the Rural Connection Coalition.
The coalition has developed a needs assessment tool to help rural health providers find partners to prepare a grant proposal for the Rural Health Transformation Program. Specifically, the tool helps providers identify organizational needs, potential project concepts, and partnership opportunities in advance of upcoming funding opportunities and future funding years by:
- Encouraging organizations to begin thinking early about potential partnerships and program applications
- Supporting a better understanding of statewide needs, priorities, and which organizations are planning to pursue funding opportunities
- Identifying gaps, opportunities, and areas where organizations may be able to support, convene, or partner on future projects
A July 1 webinar will provide more details on how to use the needs assessment tool and how the coalition effort will help hospitals. Click here to register.
At the same time, several U.S. senators, including California’s Sen. Alex Padilla, have signed on to a bipartisan letter seeking several improvements to the RHTP as it is being implemented. These include lifting the cap on infrastructure and capital improvements for rural facilities, clarifying the permissibility of direct payments to providers, and more.
These improvements, along with the new assessment tool, will be invaluable at a time when rural hospitals need support to continue to be able to care for their communities. We hope you’ll be able to join us in July for this important conversation.
