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Rural Health Policy
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FY
2007 Actual |
FY
2008
Enacted |
FY
2009
Estimate |
FY
2009 +/-
FY 2008 |
BA |
$8,737,000 |
$8,584,000 |
$8,737,000 |
+$153,000 |
Authorizing
Legislation - Section 301 of the Public Health Service
Act, Section 711 of the Social Security Act.
FY
2009 Authorization |
Indefinite
|
Allocation
Method |
Competitive
Grant |
Program Description and Accomplishments
Rural Health Policy Development activities are a component
of ORHP and support a range of policy analysis, research
and information dissemination. The Office is charged
in its authorizing statute to advise the Secretary
on how Departmental policies affect rural communities
and to conduct research to inform its policy analysis
activities. The Office is also charged with supporting
information dissemination and the operation of a clearinghouse
on national rural health initiatives.
The ORHP Rural Health Research Center Grant program
is a major component of the Rural Health Policy Development
activities. It is the only Federal research program
specifically designed to provide both short- and long-term
policy relevant studies on rural health issues. Grants
are awarded to eight Research Centers annually. The
work of the Centers is published in policy briefs,
academic journals, research papers, and other venues
and is made available to policy makers at both the
Federal and State levels. In the past, efforts to
understand and appropriately address the health needs
of rural Americans were severely limited by the lack
of information about the rural population and the
impact of Federal policies and regulations on the
rural health care infrastructure. In addition to the
research center grants, the Rural Health Policy Development
Activities also support the administration of two
additional cooperative agreements that focus on data
and trend analysis on new and ongoing policy issues.
Another major component of the Rural Health Policy
Development activities is the Office’s work
in staffing the National Advisory Committee on Rural
Health and Human Services, which advises the Secretary
on rural health and human service programs and policies
and produces an annual report on key rural issues
for the Secretary. The Rural Health Policy activities
also play a key role in serving as a key broker of
information on rural health issues through a cooperative
agreement with the Rural Assistance Center (RAC).
The RAC responds individually to hundreds of inquiries
each month by both phone and e-mail and disseminates
information through its web site and various reports
and information guides on a range of key rural health
issues. In FY 2007, the program produced 30 research
reports, meeting the target for the second year in
a row. This program was covered in OMB’s combined
PART assessment of HRSA’s Rural Health Activities
during 2003. The rural health activities received
a rating of Adequate. (See earlier Office of Rural
Health Policy Summary Request.)
Funding includes costs associated with grant reviews,
processing of grants through the Grants Administration
Tracking and Evaluation System (GATES) and HRSA’s
electronic handbook, and follow-up performance reviews.
Funding History
FY
2004 |
$8,902,000 |
FY
2005 |
$8,825,000 |
FY
2006 |
$8,731,000
|
FY
2007 |
$8,737,000
|
FY
2008 |
$8,584,000 |
Budget
Request
There FY 2009 request is $8,737,000, an increase of
$153,000 from the FY 2008 Enacted Level. The request
will allow the Department to continue to support key
activities including monitoring and researching issues
such as access to care and financial viability of
key rural health safety net providers as well as continuing
to serve as a dissemination point on key rural health
issues. The target for the FY 2009 performance measure
is 30 research reports.
See table
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