Funding available to improve behavioral health care in rural communities

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Federal Office of Rural Health Policy, will provide $13 million in funding to increase access to quality behavioral health care service in rural America through the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program – Behavioral Health Care Support (RCORP-BHS).

RCORP-BHS is part of the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program, a multi-year initiative administered by HRSA. This initiative has provided over $400 million in direct grants and technical assistance to rural communities for addressing behavioral health care challenges, including substance use disorder, since 2018.

Approximately 26 award recipients will receive $500,000 each year for four years of performance. During the grant, RCORP-BHS award recipients will implement activities that are aligned with overarching program goals. These goals include:

• 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 community risk factors and social determinants of health that affect the behavioral health of rural residents

All domestic public and private entities, nonprofit and for-profit, are eligible to apply for RCORP-BHS. This is including, but not limited to, rural health clinics, community- and faith-based organizations and federally recognized tribes and tribal organizations.

Award recipients must be a part of a consortium of four or more separately owned entities, and all services must be provided in HRSA-designated rural areas. 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.

Applicants can apply for the RCORP-BHS on grants.gov. Applications must be submitted by Tuesday, April 19, 2022 at 11:59 p.m. ET. For more information, visit the Notice of Funding Opportunity.