Rural Hospital Provider Assistance Program
Provides direct financial assistance to eligible rural hospitals with 50 or fewer acute care inpatient beds and a Medicare wage index below 0.90 to help maintain health care providers and prevent closure.
⚑ Eligibility is limited to rural hospitals meeting all three statutory/administrative criteria; public universities are not direct applicants unless they themselves operate an eligible rural hospital. · Funds support maintenance of providers/essential services, not research. · Award ceiling is $148,000.
Unit fits — one characterization, each unit's own rules
| IPPRA | 15 none | university cannot apply directly (ineligible) |
| Physical Sciences & Engineering (demo) | 15 none | university cannot apply directly (ineligible) |
| Tom Love Innovation Hub | 10 none | deep-tech content; no commercialization signal |
Description
The Rural Hospital Provider Assistance Program provides direct financial assistance to eligible rural hospitals facing structural payment disadvantages for the maintenance of health care providers with the goal of maintaining essential health care services and preventing avoidable closures. Eligible rural hospitals must have no more than 50 acute care inpatient beds and an established Medicare wage index value below 0.90.
Eligibility
Prior to publishing this NOFO, HRSA published a Federal Register Notice (FRN) detailing the methodology and data sources used to determine eligible hospitals. You can view the FRN at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/04/29/2026-08300/rural-hospital-provider-assistance-program.You can apply if you: 1) have no more than 50 acute care inpatient beds, 2) have an established wage index value of less than 0.90 as determined by the Secretary of HHS under section 1886(d)(3)(E) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395ww(d)(3)(E)), and 3) are located in a rural area as defined by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy.
Apply
View on Grants.gov → CONTACT: Health Resources and Services Administration <RuralHospitals@hrsa.gov>
Proposal brief SEE AN EXAMPLE →
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