The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP), announced the availability of $13 million in funding to increase access to quality behavioral health care services in rural America through the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program–Behavioral Health Care Support (RCORP-BHS). RCORP-BHS is a part of the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program (RCORP), a multi-year initiative administered by HRSA that has provided over $400 million in direct grants and technical assistance to rural communities addressing behavioral health care challenges, including substance use disorder since 2018.
All domestic public and private entities, nonprofit and for-profit, are eligible to apply for RCORP-BHS, including, but not limited to, Rural Health Clinics, community- and faith-based organizations, and Federally recognized tribes and tribal organizations.
Approximately 26 award recipients will receive $500,000 each per year for a four-year period of performance. During the course of the grant, RCORP-BHS award recipients will implement activities that are aligned with the following overarching program goals:
- Address structural- and systems-level barriers to improve rural residents’ access to quality, integrated SUD and other behavioral health care services.
- Improve the quality and sustainability of rural behavioral health care services through supporting rural health care providers to offer coordinated, evidence-based, trauma-informed SUD and other behavioral health care services.
- Improve the capacity of the behavioral health care system to address rural community risk factors and social determinants of health that affect the behavioral health of rural residents.
Award recipients are required to be part of a consortium of four or more separately owned entities and all services must be provided in HRSA-designated rural areas. Additionally, award recipients will submit a Behavioral Health Disparities Impact Statement during the period of performance that details how their project will address health disparities within their target rural service areas.
FORHP will hold a technical assistance webinar for applicants on Thursday, February 3, 2022 from 1 – 2:30 p.m. ET. A recording will be made available for those who cannot attend. For dial-in information, view the NOFO on Grants.gov, click the Package tab, then Preview, and Download Instructions; technical assistance information is on page (ii). You do not need to register in advance for the webinar. Please email ruralopioidresponse@hrsa.gov for a link to the recording.
Applicants can begin the RCORP-Behavioral Health Care Support application process on Grants.gov and apply by Tuesday, April 19, 2022 at 11:59 PM, ET. Visit the Notice of Funding Opportunity for more information.