#EVENT.  Get those creative juices flowing.  In case you haven’t noticed, MATRC now has a chatbot on our website (check out the lower right hand corner)!  Help us name the MATRC Bot and get a chance to win a $25 gift card.  Submit your entries on/before Friday February 11 at 11:59 PM ET using this form.

While you are checking out our generic un-named Bot (hint, hint), we are currently beta-testing and continuing to “train” the MATRC Bot, so help us by trying it out.  Ask it a telehealth related question….and yes, it has to be telehealth related – you have Siri and Alexa and Google for all those other questions!  Let us know if anything failed miserably or if (heaven forbid) the MATRC Bot was rude or inappropriate by using the “Feedback” tool in the lower left hand corner.

Have Fun!

#FUNDING.  Here are a list of federal and regional grant and other funding opportunities with either a focus or strong potential for telehealth applications that have winter proposal due dates. 

(We recommend that you bookmark this page or add it to your home screen as we will be adding to this list periodically from now through February as more opportunities are announced!)

• Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health Office of Population Affairs Title X Family Planning Services Grants:  Supports applicants providing Title X family planning services.  These are services that assist in preventing or achieving pregnancy. Title X clinics provide these services to clients of all identities and ages, including adolescent clients, with priority given to persons from low-income families. Title X services are voluntary, confidential, and provided regardless of one’s ability to pay or a client’s religion, race, color, national origin, disability, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, sex characteristics,
  number of pregnancies, or marital status.  Applications are due January 11, 2022 by 6:00 PM.  Click Here for More Information.

• HRSA Rural Communities Opioid Response Program-Implementation Program Grants:  Supports strengthening and expanding SUD/OUD prevention, treatment, and recovery services to enhance rural residents’ ability to access treatment and move towards recovery.  Applications are due January 13, 2022.  Click Here for More Information.

• CDC Implementation Research on Telehealth Strategies to Support Retention in Care and Treatment among Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) Patients and Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Clients:  Supports research applications to evaluate the effectiveness of telemedicine to improve adherence to HIV prevention and treatment medication while also exploring the “implementability” of its practice into routine care. Applications are due January 18, 2022.  Click Here for More Information.

• Virginia Health Care Foundation Health Access Grants:  Funding is to help uninsured Virginians receive medical, dental, and/or mental health care either through a new approach or by replicating one of VHCF’s Models That Made It..  Funding focuses on projects that address one or more of these priorities:  1) Developing or expanding patient capacity; 2) Establishing a broader scope of services; 3) Accelerating licensure of behavioral health professionals, 4) Creating local coordinated systems of care and 5) Conquering the consequences of COVID-19.  The Foundation has two formal grant cycles each year, beginning in the winter and the summer.  Concept papers for the summer funding cycle are due on January 21, 2022.  Click Here for More Information.

• Community Access to Child Health (CATCH) Planning & Implementation Grants and Resident Grants:  Supports pediatricians and pediatric residents to lead innovative, community-based initiatives that increase children’s access to optimal health or well-being by building broad-based community partnerships to address unmet child health needs.  Applications are due January 24, 2022 by 11:59 PM.  Click Here for More Information.

• HRSA Rural Health Network Development Planning Program Grants:  Promotes the development of integrated health care networks in order to: (i) achieve efficiencies; (ii) expand access to, coordinate, and improve the quality of basic health care services and associated health outcomes; and (iii) strengthen the rural health care system as a whole. This program supports one year of planning and brings together key parts of a rural health care delivery system, particularly those entities that may not have collaborated in the past, to establish and/or improve local capacity in order to strengthen rural community health interventions, and enhance care coordination. For the purposes of this program, an integrated health care network is defined as an organizational arrangement among at least three (3) regional or local health care organizations that come together to develop strategies for improving health services in a community.   Applications are due January 28, 2022.  Click Here for More Information.

• HHS Racial Equity in Postpartum Care Challenge:  Supports Innovative methods to improve equity of postpartum care for Black or African American and American Indian/Alaska Native women enrolled in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), including follow-up care for diabetes, postpartum depression and/or postpartum anxiety, hypertension, and substance use disorders (SUD).    Applications are due January 31, 2022 by 5:00 PM.  Click Here for More Information.

• IHS Substance Abuse and Suicide Prevention Program: Substance Use Prevention, Treatment, and Aftercare:  Funding to supports the reduction of the prevalence of substance abuse and decrease the overall use of addicting and illicit substances among American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) populations. Tribes can accomplish these goals by: 1). Improving care coordination; 2) Expanding behavioral health care services through the use of culturally appropriate evidence-based and practice-based models to address these issues; and 3) developing or expanding on activities for the Generation Indigenous (Gen-I) Initiative by implementing early intervention strategies for AI/AN youth at risk for substance abuse behavior.  Applications are due February 2, 2022.  Click Here for More Information.

• NIH/NIDA/NIA/NIMH HEAL Initiative: Preventing Opioid Misuse and Co-Occurring Conditions by Intervening on Social Determinants (R01 Clinical Trials Optional):   Supports research that tests multi-level strategies for intervening directly on SDOH in order to reduce the risk for opioid misuse and co-occurring conditions. For the purposes of this RFA, co-occurring conditions refers to other substance misuse, mental health conditions and suicide.  Letter of Intent is due by February 2, 2022.  Applications are due March 2, 2022 by 5:00 PM.  Click Here for More Information.

• Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health Family Planning Telehealth Infrastructure Enhancement and Expansion Grants:  Grants funded under this NOFO will enhance and expand the telehealth  infrastructure of Title X grantee networks, increasing access to Title X family planning services nationwide.  Applications are due February 3, 2022.  Click Here for More Information.

• Virginia State Office of Rural Health (VA-SORH) Innovative Programming Awards:  Supports applicants who propose to implement innovative programming targeted at 1 or more of these 5 focus areas:  1) Healthy Moms & Babies, 2) Food Access & Nutrition, 3) Workforce Development, 4) Behavioral Health and 5) Telehealth and demonstrate a need for the funding, have a clear plan in place for using the funding, and can articulate the anticipated impact of the funding if received.  Applications are due February 4, 2022 by 5:00 PM.  Click Here for More Information.

• USDA Rural Utility Service eConnectivity Program Grants and Loans: Supports loans, grants, and loan/grant combinations to facilitate broadband deployment in rural areas..  Applications are due February 22, 2022 by 11:59 PM.  Click Here for More Information.

• HRSA Nurse Education, Practice, Quality and Retention-Mobile Health Training Program (NEPQR-MHTP):  Increases and strengthens the diversity, education, and training of the nursing workforce to provide culturally aligned quality care in rural and underserved areas where there are health care disparities related to access and delivery of care. The NEPQR-MHTP aims to expand on the nursing education provided by emphasizing leadership and effective communication skills as well as innovative technological methods (i.e. telehealth) to deliver quality care in a rural or underserved environment.    Applications are due February 22, 2022.  Click Here for More Information.

• Foundation for Rural Service Virtual Living Room Grant Program:  Funding is for blending technology, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs resources and local support to encourage veteran use of advanced medical technologies.  The Virtual Living Room is intended to feel like home, offering a comfortable, safe space to help veterans simulate the experience they would have while using VA telehealth services at home.  Applications accepted on a rolling basis.  Click Here for More Information.

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Following are funding opportunities with cyclical deadlines:

• NIH/NIBIB/NIMHD Technology Development to Reduce Health Disparities (R01 Clinical Trial Optional):  This funding opportunity encourages grant applications to develop and translate medical technologies aimed at reducing disparities in healthcare access and health outcomes. Appropriate medical technologies should be effective, affordable, culturally acceptable, and deliverable to those who need them.  Applications are due in a repetitive cycle between January 11, 2021 – January 26, 2024.  Click Here for More Information.

• AHRQ Using Innovative Digital Healthcare Solutions to Improve Quality at the Point of Care (R21/R33 – Clinical Trial Optional): Funding is  research projects that test promising digital healthcare interventions aimed at improving the quality of healthcare services delivery at the point of care.  Research should be designed to test promising digital healthcare solutions that enable or facilitate technology-driven, point of care process solutions that use advanced analytics, patient-centered clinician and patient facing digital healthcare technologies, or clinical decision support systems to improve quality and health outcomes at the point of care. A theoretical framework should inform the research study and incorporate the use of care models when appropriate..  Applications are due in a repetitive cycle between February 9, 2021 – July 18, 2024.  Click Here for More Information.

• Kent Richard Hofmann Foundation Grants:  Funding is to support developing or established programs, with emphasis on direct benefit to clients or target audiences in the fight against HIV and AIDS.  Funding can be used in support of 1) Care and direct services; 2) Education and/or 3) Research.  The Foundation makes grant funds available semi-annually, with cycles in the spring and fall.  Letters of inquiry for the spring 2022 funding cycle will be due some time around early March 2022.   Click Here for More Information.

• Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Telehealth Strategies for Individuals with HIV and Substance Use Disorders:  Funding is for research to explore and develop telehealth methods and strategies for diagnosis, prevention, treatment, and population analysis in individuals living with HIV and substance use disorder (SUD)..  Applications are due in a repetitive cycle between May 7, 2021 – September 8, 2024.  Click Here for More Information.

• AHRQ Health Services Research Demonstration and Dissemination Grants (R18):  Funding is to produce evidence to make health care safer, higher quality, more ac­cessible, equitable and affordable, and to work with HHS and other partners to make sure that the evidence is understood and used. Within the mission, AHRQ’s specific priority areas of focus are: 1) research to improve health care patient safety; 2) harnessing data and technology to improve health care quality and patient outcomes and to provide a 360-degree view of the patient; and 3) research to increase accessibility and affordability of health care by examining innovative market approaches to care delivery and financing.  Applications are due in a repetitive cycle between August 24, 2018 – September 30, 2022.  Click Here for More Information.

• NIH Palliative Care in Home and Community Settings (R01 Clinical Trial Optional):  to stimulate research aimed at determining needs and best practices for the integration of palliative care into home and community settings. Home and community in this FOA refer to the place where an individual resides or lives. Home- and community-based palliative care programs ensure those with serious, advanced illness who do not require hospitalization but are not appropriate for hospice have access to high quality end-of-life and palliative care. Applications are due in a repetitive cycle between September 5, 2019 – September 8, 2022.  Click Here for More Information.

• AHRQ Small Research Grant Program (R03):  This funding opportunity supports health services research projects, including pilot and feasibility studies; secondary analysis of existing data; small, self-contained research projects; development of research methodology; and development of new research technology.  Rural and frontier areas are priority populations.  Applications are due in a repetitive cycle between September 17, 2018 – July 7, 2022.  Click Here for More Information.

• NIH/NIMH Effectiveness of Implementing Sustainable Evidence-Based Mental Health Practices in Low-Resource Settings to Achieve Mental Health Equity for Traditionally Underserved Populations (R01 Clinical Trial Optional):  This funding opportunity encourages studies that develop and test the effectiveness of strategies for implementation and sustainable delivery of evidence-based mental health treatments and services to improve mental health outcomes for underserved populations in low-resourced settings in the United States.  Applications are due in a repetitive cycle between October 5, 2021 – June 5, 2024.  Click Here for More Information.

• NIH Comprehensive Care for Adults with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus from Populations with Health Disparities (R01 Clinical Trial Optional):  Funding will support innovative research to develop, test and evaluate multi-level/multi-component strategies (including models of health care) to effectively adapt and implement comprehensive clinical care for individuals with Type 2 diabetes mellitus from populations with health disparities concordant with recommended and evidence-based guidelines. Applications are due in a repetitive cycle between October 5, 2021 – June 5, 2024.  Click Here for More Information.

• NIH/NIMH Innovative Mental Health Services Research Not Involving Clinical Trials (R01 Clinical Trials Not Allowed):  Funding will support innovative research that will inform and support the delivery of high-quality, continuously improving mental health services to benefit the greatest number of individuals with, or at risk for developing, a mental illness.  Applications are due in a repetitive cycle between October 5, 2021 – June 5, 2024.  Click Here for More Information.

• NIH/NIMH Effectiveness of Implementing Sustainable Evidence-Based Mental Health Practices in Low-Resource Settings to Achieve Mental Health Equity for Traditionally Underserved Populations (R01 Clinical Trial Optional):  Funding will support studies that develop and test the effectiveness of strategies for implementation and sustainable delivery of evidence-based mental health treatments and services to improve mental health outcomes for underserved populations in low-resourced settings in the United States. Studies should identify and use innovative approaches to remediate barriers to provision, receipt, and/or benefit from evidence-based practices (EBPs) and generate new information about factors integral to achieving equity in mental health outcomes for underserved populations.  Applications are due in a repetitive cycle between October 5, 2021 – June 5, 2024.  Click Here for More Information.

• NIH/NIMH Service-Ready Tools for Identification, Prevention, and Treatment of Individuals at Risk for Suicide (R34 Clinical Trial Optional):  Funding will support pilot effectiveness projects to evaluate the preliminary effectiveness of service-ready tools and technologies that can be used to advance training, quality monitoring, and quality improvement efforts and ultimately improve the availability of evidence-based suicide prevention services.  Applications are due in a repetitive cycle between October 15, 2021 – June 15, 2022.  Click Here for More Information.

• NIH/NCI Intervening with Cancer Caregivers to Improve Patient Health Outcomes and Optimize Health Care Utilization (R21 Clinical Trial Optional):  This funding opportunity is for intervention research designed to support caregivers of adult cancer patients. Interventions are intended to provide caregivers with care training, promote coping skills, and ultimately help them manage care. Outcomes of such interventions are expected to (1) optimize patient health care utilization, (2) improve caregiver well-being, and (3) improve patient physical health and psychosocial outcomes.  Applications are due in a repetitive cycle between October 16, 2019 – September 8, 2022.  Click Here for More Information.

• NIH/NIDA New Models of Integrated HIV/AIDS, Addiction, and Primary Care Services (R34 – Clinical Trial Optional):  This funding opportunity will support the development and testing of enhanced models of care that are able to optimally integrate HIV, addiction, and primary care services..  Applications are due in a repetitive cycle between November 18, 2021 – August 11, 2023.  Click Here for More Information.

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Following are funding opportunities that are forecasted to come available or are not due until Spring/Summer 2022:

• SAMHSA Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic Expansion Grants: Funding is to support to increase access to and improve the quality of community mental and substance use disorder treatment services through the expansion of CCBHCs. CCBHCs provide person- and family-centered integrated services. The CCBHC Expansion grant program must provide access to services including 24/7 crisis intervention services for individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) or substance use disorders (SUD), including opioid use disorders; children and adolescents with serious emotional disturbance (SED); and individuals with co-occurring mental and substance disorders (COD). SAMHSA expects that this program will provide comprehensive 24/7 access to community-based mental and substance use disorder services; treatment of co-occurring disorders; and physical healthcare. Click Here for More Information.

• Notice of Intent to Publish a Funding Opportunity:  Health Care Models for Persons with Multiple Chronic Conditions from Populations that Experience Health Disparities (R01 Clinical Trials Optional):  Funding is to support innovative, multidisciplinary, and multi-level and/or multi-component research through existing or newly proposed health care models designed to optimize the care of persons with MCCs from U.S. populations that experience health disparities through the adaption, integration, and implementation of evidence-based or recommended guidelines of care for different and coexisting MCCs with a holistic perspective, and focused on attaining optimal health outcomes as the primary goal. The integration/implementation of multiple guidelines of care should be set to accomplish optimal treatment and recommended health outcomes goals to reach health equity, and not merely demonstrating improvement in health outcomes. Click Here for More Information.

• USAC Healthcare Connect Fund Program:  Provides a 65% discount on eligible broadband connectivity expenses for eligible rural health care providers (HCPs).  You can apply as an individual health care provider or as a consortium, i.e., a group of HCPs that can be both rural and non-rural.   Applications are due April 1, 2022.  Click Here for More Information.

• USAC Telecommunications Program:  Provides reduced rates to rural health care providers (HCPs) for telecommunications and voice services for the use of telemedicine and telehealth. Eligible services are discounted at the difference in cost between urban and rural areas in your state.  Applications are due April 1, 2022.  Click Here for More Information.

• NIH/NIMH Pilot Practice-based Research for Primary Care Suicide Prevention (R34 Clinical Trial Optional):  Supports primary care practice-based research focused on rigorous evaluations of factors that impact or account for the effectiveness of existing suicide prevention practices and/or pilot clinical trials aimed at optimizing and pilot testing patient-, provider-, or systems-level suicide prevention strategies.  Letter of intent is due 30 days prior to application due date.  Applications are due June 21, 2022 by 5:00 PM.  Click Here for More Information.

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If you are looking for grants to support rural health, the RHIhub has developed a Topic Guide on Applying for Grants to Support Rural Health Projects and a Rural Philanthropy Toolkit that might be of interest to you.

#EVENT.  MATRC and all the members of the National Consortium of Telehealth Resource Centers are excited to celebrate the #PowerofRural today, National Rural Health Day.   We want to recognize and honor those who work tirelessly to keep rural communities healthy!

#EVENT. Registration for #MATRC2022 is now open!   Visit https://matrcsummit.org/ for more information.

#EVENT.  Registration will be going live in just a few weeks.  Get these dates on your calendars!

#FUNDING.  Here are a list of federal and regional grant and other funding opportunities with either a focus or strong potential for telehealth applications that have fall proposal due dates.  We recommend that you bookmark this page or add it to your home screen as we will be adding to this list periodically from now through November as more opportunities are announced!

• HRSA COVID-19 Provider Relief Funding:    $25.5 billion in new funding available for health care providers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This funding includes:
  • • $8.5 billion from the American Rescue Plan (ARP) for providers who serve rural Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), or Medicare patients.
    • $17 billion for Provider Relief Fund (PRF) Phase 4 payments for a broad range of providers who can document revenue loss and expenses associated with the pandemic.

Providers will apply for both programs with a single application, and the application portal will open on September 29, 2021.  There are eligibility requirements and an application process.  Click Here for More Information.

• American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) Foundation Access to Care Grants:  Supports community-based initiatives throughout the United States and its territories that provide Dental Homes to children whose families cannot afford dental care. Applications are due October 1, 2021.  Click Here for More Information.

• USDA Rural Development Emergency Rural Health Care Grants – Track Two Impact Grants:  Funds must be used in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic and to advance ideas and solutions to solve regional rural health care problems to support the long-term sustainability of rural health care. Long-term sustainability is defined as “improved health outcomes, improved access to quality health care, and creating and maintaining sustainable economic development for small communities.”  Applications are due by  4 PM October 12, 2021.  Click Here for More Information.

• Family Caregiver Alliance Innovations in Alzheimer’s Caregiving Awards:  Monetary awards to recognize organizations that are responding to a community need with a program or project that focuses primarily on family caregivers of adults with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.  Applications are due by  5 PM (PT) October 18, 2021.  Click Here for More Information

• PCORI Telehealth for Chronic Disease Management Among Vulnerable Populations with Complex Needs:  Supports comparative clinical effectiveness research of interventions to optimize telehealth for chronic disease management among vulnerable populations with complex needs. Applicants are encouraged to consider multisite and multi-health system studies (randomized controlled trials or well-designed natural experiments) as well as mixed methods designs to support the possibility of widespread implementation.  Letters of Intent are due October 5, 2021 by 5:00 PM.  Full applications are due January 11, 2022 by 5:00 PM.  Click Here for More Information.

• Foundation for Rural Service Virtual Living Room Grant Program:  Funding is for blending technology, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs resources and local support to encourage veteran use of advanced medical technologies.  The Virtual Living Room is intended to feel like home, offering a comfortable, safe space to help veterans simulate the experience they would have while using VA telehealth services at home.  Applications accepted on a rolling basis.  Click Here for More Information.

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Following are funding opportunities with cyclical deadlines:

• NIH/NIMH Effectiveness of Implementing Sustainable Evidence-Based Mental Health Practices in Low-Resource Settings to Achieve Mental Health Equity for Traditionally Underserved Populations (R01 Clinical Trial Optional):  This funding opportunity encourages studies that develop and test the effectiveness of strategies for implementation and sustainable delivery of evidence-based mental health treatments and services to improve mental health outcomes for underserved populations in low-resourced settings in the United States.  Applications are due in a repetitive cycle between October 5, 2021 – June 5, 2024.  Click Here for More Information.

• NIH Comprehensive Care for Adults with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus from Populations with Health Disparities (R01 Clinical Trial Optional):  Funding will support innovative research to develop, test and evaluate multi-level/multi-component strategies (including models of health care) to effectively adapt and implement comprehensive clinical care for individuals with Type 2 diabetes mellitus from populations with health disparities concordant with recommended and evidence-based guidelines. Applications are due in a repetitive cycle between October 5, 2021 – June 5, 2024.  Click Here for More Information.

• NIH/NIMH Innovative Mental Health Services Research Not Involving Clinical Trials (R01 Clinical Trials Not Allowed):  Funding will support innovative research that will inform and support the delivery of high-quality, continuously improving mental health services to benefit the greatest number of individuals with, or at risk for developing, a mental illness.  Applications are due in a repetitive cycle between October 5, 2021 – June 5, 2024.  Click Here for More Information.

• NIH/NIMH Effectiveness of Implementing Sustainable Evidence-Based Mental Health Practices in Low-Resource Settings to Achieve Mental Health Equity for Traditionally Underserved Populations (R01 Clinical Trial Optional):  Funding will support studies that develop and test the effectiveness of strategies for implementation and sustainable delivery of evidence-based mental health treatments and services to improve mental health outcomes for underserved populations in low-resourced settings in the United States. Studies should identify and use innovative approaches to remediate barriers to provision, receipt, and/or benefit from evidence-based practices (EBPs) and generate new information about factors integral to achieving equity in mental health outcomes for underserved populations.  Applications are due in a repetitive cycle between October 5, 2021 – June 5, 2024.  Click Here for More Information.

• NIH/NIMH Service-Ready Tools for Identification, Prevention, and Treatment of Individuals at Risk for Suicide (R34 Clinical Trial Optional):  Funding will support pilot effectiveness projects to evaluate the preliminary effectiveness of service-ready tools and technologies that can be used to advance training, quality monitoring, and quality improvement efforts and ultimately improve the availability of evidence-based suicide prevention services.  Applications are due in a repetitive cycle between October 15, 2021 – June 15, 2022.  Click Here for More Information.

• NIH/NIDA New Models of Integrated HIV/AIDS, Addiction, and Primary Care Services (R34 – Clinical Trial Optional):  This funding opportunity will support the development and testing of enhanced models of care that are able to optimally integrate HIV, addiction, and primary care services..  Applications are due in a repetitive cycle between November 18, 2021 – August 11, 2023.  Click Here for More Information.

• Virginia Health Care Foundation Health Access Grants:  Funding is to help uninsured Virginians receive medical, dental, and/or mental health care either through a new approach or by replicating one of VHCF’s Models That Made It..  Funding focuses on projects that address one or more of these priorities:  1) Developing or expanding patient capacity; 2) Establishing a broader scope of services; 3) Accelerating licensure of behavioral health professionals, 4) Creating local coordinated systems of care and 5) Conquering the consequences of COVID-19.  The Foundation has two formal grant cycles each year, beginning in the winter and the summer.  Concept papers for the summer funding cycle are due on January 21, 2022.  Click Here for More Information.

• NIH/NCI Intervening with Cancer Caregivers to Improve Patient Health Outcomes and Optimize Health Care Utilization (R21 Clinical Trial Optional):  This funding opportunity is for intervention research designed to support caregivers of adult cancer patients. Interventions are intended to provide caregivers with care training, promote coping skills, and ultimately help them manage care. Outcomes of such interventions are expected to (1) optimize patient health care utilization, (2) improve caregiver well-being, and (3) improve patient physical health and psychosocial outcomes.  Applications are due in a repetitive cycle between October 16, 2019 – September 8, 2022.  Click Here for More Information.

• AHRQ Small Research Grant Program (R03):  This funding opportunity supports health services research projects, including pilot and feasibility studies; secondary analysis of existing data; small, self-contained research projects; development of research methodology; and development of new research technology.  Rural and frontier areas are priority populations.  Applications are due in a repetitive cycle between September 17, 2018 – July 7, 2022.  Click Here for More Information.

• NIH Palliative Care in Home and Community Settings (R01 Clinical Trial Optional):  to stimulate research aimed at determining needs and best practices for the integration of palliative care into home and community settings. Home and community in this FOA refer to the place where an individual resides or lives. Home- and community-based palliative care programs ensure those with serious, advanced illness who do not require hospitalization but are not appropriate for hospice have access to high quality end-of-life and palliative care. Applications are due in a repetitive cycle between September 5, 2019 – September 8, 2022.  Click Here for More Information.

• AHRQ Health Services Research Demonstration and Dissemination Grants (R18):  Funding is to produce evidence to make health care safer, higher quality, more ac­cessible, equitable and affordable, and to work with HHS and other partners to make sure that the evidence is understood and used. Within the mission, AHRQ’s specific priority areas of focus are: 1) research to improve health care patient safety; 2) harnessing data and technology to improve health care quality and patient outcomes and to provide a 360-degree view of the patient; and 3) research to increase accessibility and affordability of health care by examining innovative market approaches to care delivery and financing.  Applications are due in a repetitive cycle between August 24, 2018 – September 30, 2022.  Click Here for More Information.

• AHRQ Using Innovative Digital Healthcare Solutions to Improve Quality at the Point of Care (R21/R33 – Clinical Trial Optional): Funding is  research projects that test promising digital healthcare interventions aimed at improving the quality of healthcare services delivery at the point of care.  Research should be designed to test promising digital healthcare solutions that enable or facilitate technology-driven, point of care process solutions that use advanced analytics, patient-centered clinician and patient facing digital healthcare technologies, or clinical decision support systems to improve quality and health outcomes at the point of care. A theoretical framework should inform the research study and incorporate the use of care models when appropriate..  Applications are due in a repetitive cycle between February 9, 2021 – July 18, 2024.  Click Here for More Information.

• Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Telehealth Strategies for Individuals with HIV and Substance Use Disorders:  Funding is for research to explore and develop telehealth methods and strategies for diagnosis, prevention, treatment, and population analysis in individuals living with HIV and substance use disorder (SUD)..  Applications are due in a repetitive cycle between May 7, 2021 – September 8, 2024.  Click Here for More Information.

• Kent Richard Hofmann Foundation Grants:  Funding is to support developing or established programs, with emphasis on direct benefit to clients or target audiences in the fight against HIV and AIDS.  Funding can be used in support of 1) Care and direct services; 2) Education and/or 3) Research.  The Foundation makes grant funds available semi-annually, with cycles in the spring and fall.  Letters of inquiry for the spring 2022 funding cycle will be due some time around early March 2022.   Click Here for More Information.

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Following are funding opportunities that are forecasted to come available in Fall/Winter 2021:

• HRSA Rural Health Network Development Planning Grant: The purpose of the Network Planning Grants Program is to promote the development of integrated health care networks in order to: (i) achieve efficiencies; (ii) expand access to, coordinate, and improve the quality of basic health care services; and (iii) strengthen the rural health care system as a whole. This program brings together key parts of a rural health care delivery system, particularly those entities that may not have collaborated in the past, to work together to establish or improve local capacity and coordination of care. The grant program supports one year of planning to develop and assist integrated health care networks in becoming operational.

#EVENT.  This interactive four-week Project ECHO mini-series will explore the telehealth challenges encountered by FQHCs during the start of the pandemic, including engagement of hard to reach populations, staff engagement, making smart and effective telehealth technology decisions and decisions about where to go with telehealth after the end of the public health emergency.  Registration is free!   We are working on CEs/CMEs for participation and will update should this come to fruition.  Click Here to Register! 

Project ECHO Mini Series

#FUNDING.  Here are a list of federal and regional grant and other funding opportunities with either a focus or strong potential for telehealth applications that have summer proposal due dates.  We recommend that you bookmark this page or add it to your home screen as we will be adding to this list periodically from now through August as more opportunities are announced!

• AAMC Telehealth Equity Catalyst Awards Call for Nominations:  The AAMC seeks to recognize and highlight the efforts of AAMC-member institutions that are advancing health care equity through telehealth and health technology in new and effective ways. Through the AAMC’s new Telehealth Equity Catalyst “TEC” Awards, AAMC-member institutions are encouraged to nominate programs that demonstrate a positive impact on barriers associated with telehealth and health technology. Nominated programs can fall into one of two tracks: clinical delivery or medical training and may be eligible to receive $15,000.  Nominations are due on June 7, 2021 at 11:59 PM ET.  Click Here for More Information.

• Opioid Crisis Innovation Challenge 2021: Funding is provided for multi-disciplinary teams to develop innovative projects that address the national opioid crisis by reducing overdoses, increasing access to treatment, and supporting long-term recovery. Projects should focus on vulnerable populations, which includes rural communities.  Applications are due on June 19, 2021.  Click Here for More Information.

• Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program:  Funding is for for states, tribes, and local governments to plan, implement or expand a criminal justice and mental health collaboration program. This will allow for a comprehensive response for people with mental illness (MI) and and co-occurring mental illness and substance abuse (CMISA). Applications are due on June 22, 2021 at 11:59 PM.  Click Here for More Information.

• Positive Action Southern Initiative:  Funding is for supporting community programs that are engaging those typically ‘out of reach’ and left behind – including people who use drugs, young LGBTQ people, folks who experience homelessness, live in rural areas, have experienced incarceration, engage in sex work and many others. In the South (Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia). Applications are due on June 23, 2021.  Click Here for More Information.

• HRSA Telehealth Technology-Enabled Learning Program (TTELP):  Funding is to connect specialists at academic medical centers with primary care providers (PCPs) in rural, frontier, and underserved populations providing evidence-based training and support to help them treat patients with complex conditions in their communities. TTELP recipients will develop learning community models that emphasize collaborative partnerships between such providers (i.e., telementoring models such as Project ECHO, ECHO-like models, distance learning, clinical decision support, and other emerging models in the field), to provide training and facilitate the dissemination of best practice specialty care to PCPs and care teams in rural, frontier, and underserved populations. Proposals are due on June 25, 2021.  Click Here for More Information.

• Johnson & Johnson Decoding Disparities QuickFire Challenge:  Funding is for US-based innovators to submit data-driven research methodologies, tools, or technologies leveraging data aiming to better detect, understand, or reduce the root causes of health inequities and inform the crucial next steps needed to take towards achieving equity, with considerations to 1) Data Integration aspect of population health management and 2) Barriers to equitable access to health care across the patient journey including the patient/physician level and clinical encounter with the following priority focus areas:  1) Mental Health; 2) Inflammatory Bowel Diseases and 3) Cardiovascular Disease.  Proposals are due on June 25, 2021.  Click Here for More Information

• Morgan Stanley Alliance for Children’s Mental Health Innovation Awards:  Funding is for new or piloted projects from direct-service organizations that will help address the far-reaching challenge of stress, anxiety, depression or other mental health issues in children and young adults on a national or local level in the U.S.  Projects must tackle specific issues and address unmet needs, with a goal of reducing stigma, increasing access to care, improving equity in mental health, enabling early identification/prevention or enhancing intervention, especially among disadvantaged and vulnerable populations.. Applications are due on July 2, 2021 at 5 PM ET.  Click Here for More Information.

• American Rescue Plan Act – Pediatric Mental Health Care Access – New Area Expansion:  Funding is for the expansion of state and/or regional networks of pediatric mental healthcare teams into new states and geographic areas. Teams will provide tele-consultation, training, technical assistance, and care coordination for pediatric primary care providers to diagnose, treat, and refer children with behavioral health conditions. Applications are due on July 6, 2021.  Click Here for More Information.

• NIH Investigator-Initiated Research on Genetic Counseling Processes and Practices (R01 Clinical Trial Optional): Funding is for investigator-initiated research on genetic counseling processes and practices in genomic medicine. Research is needed to optimize the genetic counseling process in the context of limited resources. Applications will assess, innovate, scale, and/or research the implementation of novel genetic counseling practices to address the need for more healthcare professionals trained in genetic counseling; the uneven access to in-person genetic counseling across U.S. health care systems; and the challenges of effective and efficient communication of genomic findings to clinicians, patients, and families.. Applications are due on July 8, 2021.  Click Here for More Information.

• Community Mobility Design Challenge 2021:  Funding is to support communities in seeking innovative ways to address the personal well-being of community members that face transportation barriers to health care access, economic opportunity, healthy food, or community and peer support opportunities. Teams will address populations that currently do not have access to equitable transportation because of income status, minority status, location, a pre-existing condition, or other reason.. Applications are due on July 12, 2021.  Click Here for More Information.

• Family-Centered Approaches to Improving Type 2 Diabetes Control and Prevention: Funding is to support the identification of effective approaches for improving health outcomes with the ultimate goal of promoting dissemination and sustainability of these approaches to improve minority health and eliminate health disparities.  Applications are due on July 13, 2021.  Click Here for More Information.

• AAFP Foundation Family Medicine Cares USA: Funding is to support the identification of effective approaches for improving health outcomes with the ultimate goal of promoting dissemination and sustainability of these approaches to improve minority health and eliminate health disparities.  Applications are due on July 13, 2021.  Click Here for More Information.

• HRSA Bureau of Primary Care Optimizing Virtual Care: Funding is to support new and existing free health clinics to care for the uninsured in areas of need across the United States.   Funds are to support the purchase of durable, sustainable equipment and instruments necessary for diagnosis and treatment related to primary care.  .Applications are due on July 15, 2021.  Click Here for More Information.

• Alzheimer’s Disease Programs Initiative – Dementia Capability in Indian Country: Funding is to support 1) enhancing the ability of tribal systems and programs to embed dementia-capability in their service networks; and 2) through delivery of dementia-capable supportive services including dementia specific evidence-based or evidence-informed interventions. . Applications are due on July 19, 2021.  Click Here for More Information.

• Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts:  Funding is for projects that bring an innovative approach to long-standing, complex issues related to stemming the tide of the nation’s opioid crisis. This RFP will support projects that can explore and/or evaluate new “outside-the-box” ideas, bring together approaches from several diverse fields, and engage multi-disciplinary, cross-sector teams to solve some of the most intractable problems created by the crisis.  Applications are due on July 19, 2021.  Click Here for More Information.

• Centers on Telehealth Research for Cancer-Related Care (P50 Clinical Trial Required):  Funding is to develop  three research centers that can advance a national cancer-related telehealth research agenda in a rapidly changing healthcare, policy, and communication environment. Each center will support one signature project: a large pragmatic trial with the potential to generate findings with broad applicability to clinical practice and heterogenous patient populations. This collective of research centers will also support the infrastructure needed for designing innovative pilot studies on emerging issues in telehealth and cancer.  Applications are due on July 20, 2021.  Click Here for More Information.

• Rural Placemaking Innovation Challenge:  Funding provides planning support, technical assistance and training to foster placemaking activities in rural communities.  Qualified entities can use the funds to help rural communities create plans to enhance capacity for broadband access; preserve cultural and historic structures; and support the development of transportation, housing, and recreational spaces.  Applications are due on July 26, 2021.  Click Here for More Information.

• National Board for Certified Counselors Foundation Board Certified TeleMental Health Provider Training Award (BC-TMH):  Funding is prioritized for applicants who have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic due to financial strains, unemployment, or underemployment in order to increase the reach and professional development of counselors throughout the nation.    Applications are due by July 31, 2021.  Click Here for More Information.

• American Pharmacists Association Foundation Incentive Grants:  Incentive Grants offer pharmacists, students, and community pharmacy residents seed money to implement or support an existing innovative patient care service within their pharmacy practice.  Applications are due by August 23, 2021.  Click Here for More Information.

• Medline Community Impact Grant Program:  Medline is investing resources to help non-profit organizations address prevalent health challenges, stimulate health equity and improve population health in under resourced areas. We will award results-focused grants that offer community- centered solutions and immediate impact.   Applications are due on August 27, 2021.  Click Here for More Information.

• iTHRIV Pilot Translational and Clinical Studies Program:  Funding is to support innovative approaches to clinical and translational research to foster collaborative research across the iTHRIV partner institutions in Virginia:  Carilion Clinic, Inova Health, the University of Virginia, and Virginia Tech.  Applications are due on August 30, 2021.  Click Here for More Information.

• PCORI Improving Postpartum Maternal Outcomes for Populations Experiencing Disparities: Funding is for large randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and/or well-designed observational studies comparing multicomponent strategies to improve early detection of, and timely care for, complications up to six weeks postpartum for groups more often underserved or experiencing the greatest disparities in health outcomes, including Black, American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN), Hispanic, rural, and low socioeconomic status (SES) populations.   Letters of intent are due June 1, 2021 by 5 PM ET.  Full applications are due on August 31, 2021 by 5 PM ET.  Click Here for More Information.

• Foundation for Rural Service Virtual Living Room Grant Program:  Funding is for blending technology, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs resources and local support to encourage veteran use of advanced medical technologies.  The Virtual Living Room is intended to feel like home, offering a comfortable, safe space to help veterans simulate the experience they would have while using VA telehealth services at home.  Applications accepted on a rolling basis.  Click Here for More Information.

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Following are funding opportunities with cyclical deadlines:

• Kent Richard Hofmann Foundation Grants:  Funding is to support developing or established programs, with emphasis on direct benefit to clients or target audiences in the fight against HIV and AIDS.  Funding can be used in support of 1) Care and direct services; 2) Education and/or 3) Research.  The Foundation makes grant funds available semi-annually, with cycles in the spring and fall.  Letters of inquiry for the fall funding cycle are due on September 3, 2021.  Click Here for More Information.

• Virginia Health Care Foundation Health Access Grants:  Funding is to help uninsured Virginians receive medical, dental, and/or mental health care either through a new approach or by replicating one of VHCF’s Models That Made It..  Funding focuses on projects that address one or more of these priorities:  1) Developing or expanding patient capacity; 2) Establishing a broader scope of services; 3) Accelerating licensure of behavioral health professionals, 4) Creating local coordinated systems of care and 5) Conquering the consequences of COVID-19.  The Foundation has two formal grant cycles each year, beginning in the winter and the summer.  Concept papers for the summer funding cycle are due on January 21, 2022.  Click Here for More Information.

• AHRQ Small Research Grant Program (R03):  This funding opportunity supports health services research projects, including pilot and feasibility studies; secondary analysis of existing data; small, self-contained research projects; development of research methodology; and development of new research technology.  Rural and frontier areas are priority populations..  Applications are due in a repetitive cycle between September 17, 2018 – July 7, 2022.  Click Here for More Information.

• NIH Palliative Care in Home and Community Settings (R01 Clinical Trial Optional):  to stimulate research aimed at determining needs and best practices for the integration of palliative care into home and community settings. Home and community in this FOA refer to the place where an individual resides or lives. Home- and community-based palliative care programs ensure those with serious, advanced illness who do not require hospitalization but are not appropriate for hospice have access to high quality end-of-life and palliative care. Applications are due in a repetitive cycle between September 5, 2019 – September 8, 2022.  Click Here for More Information.

• AHRQ Health Services Research Demonstration and Dissemination Grants (R18):  Funding is to produce evidence to make health care safer, higher quality, more ac­cessible, equitable and affordable, and to work with HHS and other partners to make sure that the evidence is understood and used. Within the mission, AHRQ’s specific priority areas of focus are: 1) research to improve health care patient safety; 2) harnessing data and technology to improve health care quality and patient outcomes and to provide a 360-degree view of the patient; and 3) research to increase accessibility and affordability of health care by examining innovative market approaches to care delivery and financing.  Applications are due in a repetitive cycle between August 24, 2018 – September 30, 2022.  Click Here for More Information.

• NIH Comprehensive Care for Adults with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus from Populations with Health Disparities (R01 Clinical Trial Optional)):  Funding will support innovative research to develop, test and evaluate multi-level/multi-component strategies (including models of health care) to effectively adapt and implement comprehensive clinical care for individuals with Type 2 diabetes mellitus from populations with health disparities concordant with recommended and evidence-based guidelines. Applications are due in a repetitive cycle between October 5, 2021 – June 5, 2024.  Click Here for More Information.

• AHRQ Using Innovative Digital Healthcare Solutions to Improve Quality at the Point of Care (R21/R33 – Clinical Trial Optional): Funding is  research projects that test promising digital healthcare interventions aimed at improving the quality of healthcare services delivery at the point of care.  Research should be designed to test promising digital healthcare solutions that enable or facilitate technology-driven, point of care process solutions that use advanced analytics, patient-centered clinician and patient facing digital healthcare technologies, or clinical decision support systems to improve quality and health outcomes at the point of care. A theoretical framework should inform the research study and incorporate the use of care models when appropriate..  Applications are due in a repetitive cycle between February 9, 2021 – July 18, 2024.  Click Here for More Information.

• Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Telehealth Strategies for Individuals with HIV and Substance Use Disorders:  Funding is for research to explore and develop telehealth methods and strategies for diagnosis, prevention, treatment, and population analysis in individuals living with HIV and substance use disorder (SUD)..  Applications are due in a repetitive cycle between May 7, 2021 – September 7, 2024.  Click Here for More Information.

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Following are funding opportunities that are forecasted to come available in Fall 2021:

• HRSA Rural Health Network Development Planning Grant: The purpose of the Network Planning Grants Program is to promote the development of integrated health care networks in order to: (i) achieve efficiencies; (ii) expand access to, coordinate, and improve the quality of basic health care services; and (iii) strengthen the rural health care system as a whole. This program brings together key parts of a rural health care delivery system, particularly those entities that may not have collaborated in the past, to work together to establish or improve local capacity and coordination of care. The grant program supports one year of planning to develop and assist integrated health care networks in becoming operational.

Each year, MATRC takes nominations for compelling stories of telehealth programs or projects that have led to breaking down of barriers to accessing quality care and/or addressing an unmet need that has led to improved health outcomes and/or quality of life for those residing in the MATRC region.  Today after the Luncheon Keynote Address #MATRC2021, we announced this year’s award recipients.  Congratulations go out to the following winners of the 2021 MATRC Breaking Barriers through Telehealth Award:

For Category 1:  Small, Rural and/or Safety Net Providers and Organizations:

• Winner:  Natalie Holden, RN, MSN, NP-C, CDCES, Family Health Nurse Practitioner with Change Inc. Family Medical Care Community Health Center for their efforts using telehealth to support implementation of the National Diabetes Prevention Program to residents of northern West Virginia, overcoming both traditional and COVID-19 related barriers to meeting the needs of an underserved population.
• Honorable Mention: Doug Smith, CEO of Greene County Health Center for their FCC COVID-19 funded Remote Patient Monitoring Program, touching close to 500 minority population patients with hypertension, diabetes, cardiac and pulmonary and other chronic conditions in rural Eastern North Carolina.

For Category 2:  All Other Providers/Organizations

• Winner:  Francoise A. Marvel, 3rd Year Cardiology Fellow at The Johns Hopkins Hospital for their Acute Myocardial Infarction Quality Improvement Program for improving quality of care and patient engagement and reducing preventable readmissions through the use of cost-effective digital health tools.
• Honorable Mention: Alpa Uchil (Clinical Nurse Practitioner), Lora L. Clawson, MSN, CRNP, (Founder and Director) Kristen Riley, PhD (Clinical Trials Manager) and Kirsten Labbe (Clinic Coordinator) with the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine ALS Clinic for their efforts successfully transitioning the Johns Hopkins ALS Clinical Care and Management Program to a telehealth format during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

#EVENT.  #MATRC2021 is just around the corner.  Learn how to lead change in your organization by applying design thinking to real world challenges.   It’s not too late to register.

We are offering this third special Pre-Summit Bonus Session immediately before our Virtual Welcome Reception a week from Sunday for all our registered attendees at no additional cost.  This is a fully interactive 3.5 hour workshop that will be time well spent.  For more information or to register for the Summit, visit https://matrcsummit.org/  If you are already registered, mark your calendars and plan to join!