Rural Assistance Center for ORHP Cooperative Agreement
The Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP) will fund a cooperative agreement to support a Rural Assistance Center (RAC).  The RAC is a gateway to information on rural health for residents in rural areas of the United States and for all others interested in the issue. Through daily interactions and responding to inquiries and concerns, the RAC will be able to ensure that ORHP and the Department of Health and Human Services are informed of developing and ongoing grass-roots issues in the rural U.S. The role of ORHP as the Department of Health and Human Service¿s focal point for rural information allows its staff to identify key regulatory and statutory issues. The staff of ORHP will work collaboratively with the RAC to prioritize key issues and develop information resources to share with callers and web users. It is also expected that RAC staff will produce publications to respond to emerging issues. ORHP and Department staff will review RAC proposals for publications to ensure that critical issues are appropriately identified. When publications are prepared for release, ORHP and Department staff will review them for accuracy and completeness. The awardee must be able to identify and facilitate access to information from a wide range of sources that deal with aspects of rural health care. ORHP will also coordinate information sharing between the RAC and the Rural Health Research Centers, the Rural Recruitment and Retention Network, State Offices of Rural Health, and other projects that are funded by the Office. RAC staff will work with ORHP to develop strategies for dissemination of key research findings and for providing synthesis of key research findings. The applicant should be familiar with providers of Technical Assistance (TA) for rural health care providers funded by ORHP and be able to make referrals, avoid duplication of services, and ensure that rural residents are directed to appropriate resources for their information needs. The awardee will provide support to the ¿Improve Rural Health Care¿ Initiative, originally announced in the President¿s 2010 budget. The initiative seeks to strengthen partnerships among rural health care providers, recruit and retain rural health care professionals, and modernize the health care infrastructure in rural areas. Another key part of the Initiative will involve focusing ORHP¿s grant programs on building an evidence base for successful health care models in rural communities. ORHP has developed an extensive evaluation and performance measurement focus within its community-based grant programs. The awardee will play a key role in broadly disseminating these promising practices from rural communities. The intent is to support rural community health improvement nationally and to build an ongoing evidence base for successful rural health interventions and projects.
Office: Health Resources and Services Administration
shirsch@hrsa.gov
