Grants and Demonstrations

The ACA provides funding opportunities to transform how health care is delivered, expand access to care and support healthcare workforce training.

Grant Announcements

Students-to-Service Loan Repayment Program Pilot Program. §5207. Announced November 15, 2011. The program, administered through the National Health Services Corps (NHSC), provides loan repayment for medical students in their final year of school. Awardees will commit to providing primary care services in eligible Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs). HRSA announced that $12 million will be available for the NHSC to distribute approximately 100 awards in the pilot year. The application cycle opens on November 15, 2011, and closes on December 14, 2011.

More information from HRSA can be found at:
http://www.nhsc.hrsa.gov/loanrepayment/studentstoserviceprogram/index.html
Read the blog post from Rebecca Spitzgo, Associate Admin. for the Bureau of Clinician Recruitment at: 

http://www.healthcare.gov/blog/2011/11/nhsc11152011.html

Area Health Education Centers (AHEC). §5403. Announced 11/14/11. Funding is available to eligible applicants to establish and advance statewide or multi-county Area Health Education Center programs. These programs emphasize community-based training for health professional students who have chosen primary care as their concentration and will serve in medically underserved areas. Two types of awards are available through this opportunity. The AHEC Infrastructure Development award will fund the initiation, planning, and evaluation of an AHEC program. Eligible applicants are public or nonprofit private accredited schools of allopathic medicine and osteopathic medicine and incorporated consortia made up of such schools, or the parent institutions of such schools. In states and territories in which no AHEC program is in operation, an accredited school of nursing is an eligible applicant. The AHEC Point of Service Maintenance and Enhancement awards will fund the improvement of the capacity and effectiveness of the program. Eligible applicants are operating AHEC centers that are already receiving HRSA funding under this program. Approximately $30 million will be available annually to fund 60 AHEC Infrastructure Development and AHEC Point of Service Maintenance and Enhancement programs for a 5-year project period. Awardees must provide documentation that they will commit to a 1:1 cost sharing match of federal to non-federal funds.

Applications are due February 15, 2012.

The announcement can be viewed at: HRSA

Health Care Innovation Challenge. §3021. Announced November 14, 2011. Funding will be awarded to innovative projects that test ways to deliver the three-part aim of better health, better health care and lower costs through improved quality for Medicare, Medicaid, and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) enrollees. Preference will be given to projects that focus on rapid workforce development. Eligible applicants include provider groups, health systems, payers and other private sector organizations, faith-based organizations, local governments, and public-private partnerships and for-profit organizations. States are not eligible to apply. Up to $1 billion is available for this opportunity. Individual awards expect to range from $1-$30 million over a three year period. Applications are due January 27, 2012.

The funding announcement can be viewed at:
http://www.innovation.cms.gov/documents/pdf/innovation-challenge-foa.pdf