*This is an archive page. The links are no longer being updated. 1993. 10.18 : Grants for Rural Health Offices Contact: Patricia Campbell (301) 443-3376 October 18, 1993 HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala today announced the award of $2.5 million in matching grants to establish eight new state offices of rural health and maintain the 42 existing ones. The grants are being made under the State Office of Rural Health Grant Program, which is administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration. With this year's grants, which average $50,000 per state, all 50 U.S. states now have rural health offices. The eight new offices are in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode island and Tennessee. Secretary Shalala said, "many rural communities are facing crises of health care financing as well as provider shortages. The State Office of Rural Health Grant Program helps states meet the health care needs of their rural citizens by linking local communities with a wide range of federal, state and private sector resources and ideas." In response to growing health care shortages in rural America, Congress authorized the State Office of Rural Health Grant Program in 1990 to provide matching grants for states to create and support offices of rural health. When the program began in 1991, there were only nine state rural health offices in the nation. Under the program, each state office assists rural communities in four ways: by collecting and sharing information, recruiting health care providers for rural areas, coordinating rural health interests statewide and providing communities with technical assistance to attract more state and federal funding for rural health. Examples of program successes include the placement of more than 200 physicians in rural Wisconsin and the development of 99 rural health clinics in Texas that now provide services in 71 percent of the state's underserved counties. "State offices of rural health are playing a significant role in revitalizing health care services in rural communities, said Assistant Secretary for Health Philip R. Lee, M.D)., who heads the U.S. PubliC Health Service. "They are vital partners in our national endeavor to improve health care, not only for the 25 percent of Americans who live in rural areas, but for all Americans." HRSA is a Public Health Service agency within HHS. A list of the FY 1993 grants by state follows. State office of Rural Health Grants -- FY 1993 STATE AMOUNT Alabama $49,579 Alaska 61,365 Arizona 53,015 Arkansas 57,608 California 47,616 Colorado 48,239 Connecticut 47,619 Delaware 47,619 Florida 47,616 Georgia 61,342 Hawaii 46,214 Idaho 51,300 Illinois 50,426 Indiana 47,616 Iowa 61,594 Kansas 61,939 Kentucky 57,360 Louisiana 46,214 Maine 47,616 Maryland 47,619 Massachusetts 47,619 Michigan 53,450 Minnesota 55,982 Mississippi 24,819 Missouri 59,006 Montana 67,539 Nebraska 57,317 Nevada 47,616 New Hampshire 45,503 New Jersey 47,619 New Mexico 57,791 New York 47,616 North Carolina 64,263 North Dakota 54,103 Ohio 21,932 Oklahoma 47,616 Oregon 53,789 Pennsylvania 47,616 Rhode Island 47,619 South Carolina 0* South Dakota 55,237 Tennessee 47,619 Texas 70,219 Utah 47,616 Vermont 43,642 Virginia 48,216 Washington 47,616 West Virginia 47,718 Wisconsin 46,381 Wyoming 57,405 TOTAL $2,500,000 * Funding from FY 1992 been carried over into FY *This is an archive page. The links are no longer being updated. 1993.