In response to the White House Job-Driven Training initiative, the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) is pleased to announce the release of the Rural Network Allied Health Training Program (Allied Health Training), a new one-time funding opportunity.

The Allied Health Training Program supports the President’s Rural Health Care Initiative by focusing on rural recruitment and retention activities and builds upon the accomplishments of the Rural Health Workforce Development (RHWD) pilot program, which ended in 2013. As a result of the RHWD Program, approximately 4,000 program participants completed their rural training/rotation, and of these, almost half said they plan on returning to practice in a rural area and a number of them have. Moreover, there was a significant economic impact of $19 million within rural America from FORHP’s $12 million investment via the RHWD Program.

 

The Allied Health Training Program will support the development of formal, mature rural health networks that focus on activities that achieve efficiencies, expand access to, coordinate and improve the quality of essential health care services, and strengthen the rural health care system as a whole. This purpose will be achieved through the recruitment, clinical training, and retention of allied health professionals.

This program will further support integrated rural health networks that can partner with local community colleges and other accredited educational institutions (such as vocational and technical colleges) to develop formal clinical training programs. These formal training programs will target enrolled rural allied health professional students, to include displaced workers and veterans, in completing a rural, community-based clinical training rotation and obtaining eventual employment with a rural health care provider.

FORHP will hold a technical assistance webinar on Wednesday, February 11, 2015 at 2:00 PM Eastern Standard Time to assist applicants in preparing their applications. The toll-free call-in number (for audio) is 800-857-9638, and the passcode is ALLIEDHEALTH. The Adobe Connect webinar URL is https://hrsa.connectsolutions.com/ruralalliedhealth/.

To learn more about applying for the FY15 Rural Network Allied Health Training Program (HRSA-15-068), please visit http://www.grants.gov/view-opportunity.html?oppId=272369 and look under the “application package” tab. The deadline to apply is March 31, 2015.

For further information, please contact: Marcia Colburn, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.<mailto:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> or (301) 443-3261.