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"These programs not only help rural providers work better together, they pay for services that otherwise would not be available," Secretary Thompson said. "This year's grants will bring additional emergency medical services, dental care, prenatal care and mental health services to rural areas that badly need them."

The Rural Health Outreach grants and Rural Health Network Development grants, funded by HHS' Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), support a wide range of programs and services vital to rural health care:

• Rural Health Outreach Grants totaling $23.1 million will help increase access to primary health care services for rural Americans within their own communities, especially for poor, elderly, disabled and minority residents. The program provides funding to 130 grantees to support services, including primary medical and dental care, mental health treatment, health promotion, health education and hospice care. These grants will help establish new partnerships between health organizations and schools, churches, emergency medical services providers, private practitioners and other groups to improve the delivery of clinical care.

• Rural Health Network Development Grants totaling $5.8 million are awarded to public and nonprofit organizations representing networks of at least three health care providers or organizations to help strengthen regional and local service delivery systems in rural communities. By integrating clinical, information, administrative and financial systems, these networks help ensure that rural consumers get the best possible health care and enable providers to cut overhead by sharing resources. The grants, which are being awarded to 32 grantees, will also cover costs of bringing in additional staff and technical experts.

Secretary Thompson has made improving rural health and social services a top HHS priority. Last July, he created a rural task force to assess how HHS programs serve rural communities. The task force is completing work on that assignment and will soon deliver its findings to the secretary. Earlier this month, Secretary Thompson named former South Carolina Governor David M. Beasley chairman of the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health, which advises the secretary on health issues affecting rural communities.

Of the awards announced today, 49 new grantees will receive approximately $9,207,048, including 10 new network development grantees sharing $1,741,158 and 39 new outreach grantees sharing $7,465,890. Current grantees share remaining funds.

For more information on rural health programs, visit HRSA's Office of Rural Health Policy Web site at www.ruralhealth.hrsa.gov.

Tables of the recipients are located at newsroom.hrsa.gov/releases/2002releases/ruralgrants.htm.

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