Criteria

Home

MINIMUM ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

At a minimum, an applicant must meet all of the following initial eligibility criteria, depending upon the type of grant the applicant is seeking, to be considered for funding by the Rural Health Systems Program

Collaborative Grant:

  • The lead agency must be a non-profit health organization or a public entity (i.e., county or state) created by state statute with the ability to enter into the grant and/or loan agreements required under the program. A lead agency which is organized as a for-profit entity will not be eligible for funding.
  • The lead agency must collaborate with other health care providers, support/ancillary service providers, and/or community support service providers in the county or service area in which the lead agency is located.  The lead agency must evidence this collaboration by obtaining the signature(s) of collaborating parties.
  • The lead agency must be located in a Medically Underserved Area (MUA) or a Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA), as defined by the Office of Community and Rural Health Services. In the absence of being located in a MUA or HPSA, a waiver of the MUA or HPSA status must be granted by the Office of Community and Rural Health Services, or other appropriate agency charged with oversight of MUA designations, prior to the application deadline.
  • Matching funds of "one to one" are required for all Collaborative Grants. A lead agency must establish the “one to one” match by either detailing the in-kind contribution to be made by the Lead Agency and/or its collaborating parties or by specifying the actual dollar amount of funds it will use to match the funds awarded by the program.
  • The focus area for Collaborative Applications in the 2008 funding cycle will be:
    • Oral health
    • Facility health information systems
    • Wellness and obesity

Preference will be given to these applications.

  • Current on Workers' compensation, HCA financial disclosure requirements and state taxes.

Crisis Grant:

  • Essential health services must be at risk. The applicant is required, as a part of the crisis application, to submit an explanation and supporting documentation of how and why essential health services are being threatened in the county and/or service area.
  • The applicant for a crisis grant must be facing closure or severe financial difficulties and such problems must impact upon the delivery of essential health care services to the people and/or community that the applicant serves.
  • The applicant should investigate and use possible collaborative opportunities with other service providers in the community and/or service area to insure sustainability of essential health services.
  • The applicant is required as a part of the crisis application to submit sufficient evidence that the applicant is facing closure or is having severe financial difficulties.
  • The applicant should submit with their crisis application documents such as current balance sheets, financial reports, extraordinary costs, etc.
  • In the event that an applicant is seeking crisis funds for a capital repair such as roof replacement, boiler replacement, the applicant must establish that the need for the capital repair is exigent; other funding sources were unavailable or insufficient to cover the entire cost of the capital repair.
  • The agency requesting crisis funding must be a non-profit health organization or a public entity (i.e., county or state) created by state statute with the ability to enter into the grant and/or loan documents required under the program.  An agency which is organized as a for-profit entity will not be eligible for funding, unless such agency is a critical access hospital.
  • There is no need to establish a “one to one” match when submitting a crisis application.  However, the Applicant does need to submit evidence indicating that the Applicant has sought funding from other sources.
  • The lead agency must be located in a Medically Underserved Area (MUA) or a Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA), as defined by the Office of Community Health Systems. In the absence of being located in a MUA or HPSA, a waiver of the MUA or HPSA status must be granted by the Office of Community Health Systems, or other appropriate agency charged with oversight of MUA designations, prior to the application deadline.
  • Current on workers’ compensation, HCA financial disclosure requirements and state taxes.