Rural Residency Planning and Development Program

The Rural Residency Planning and Development (RRPD) Program is a federal initiative administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), a division within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Its primary aim is to address the shortage of physicians in rural areas across the United States. The program accomplishes this by supporting the development of new, accredited, and sustainable rural residency programs—especially rural track programs (RTPs)—to train medical professionals in rural communities and ultimately encourage them to practice in those regions. By expanding access to health care training in these underserved locales, the RRPD contributes to the long-term improvement of rural health infrastructure. This discretionary grant program provides start-up funding specifically intended for the creation of new rural residency programs. Eligible medical specialties under this initiative include family medicine, internal medicine, preventive medicine, psychiatry, general surgery, and obstetrics and gynecology. The program supports these new residencies during their initial planning and development stages, while requiring long-term sustainability to come from reliable sources such as Medicare, Medicaid, or other public or private funding mechanisms. The overarching goal is to ensure that once established, these programs can operate independently without continued reliance on RRPD funds. A key feature of the RRPD Program is its stringent geographic requirement. To qualify, physician residency programs must be accredited and ensure that residents complete over 50 percent of their total clinical training in HRSA-defined rural areas. These clinical sites must be physically located in rural communities, and the overall training must emphasize preparation for rural medical practice. This requirement aligns with the program’s mission to directly address workforce shortages and improve healthcare delivery in rural and often underserved areas of the country. The application process is conducted electronically, and proposals must be submitted through the designated system no later than 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the listed deadline. For the Fiscal Year 2026 cycle, applications are expected to open around March 16, 2026, and close on May 15, 2026. Awards are anticipated to be announced by July 1, 2026, with the project start date scheduled for August 1, 2026. The forecast indicates approximately 14 awards will be issued, with individual awards capped at $750,000. The total anticipated funding available for this round is $10.5 million. There is no cost-sharing or matching requirement associated with this opportunity, which enhances accessibility for a broad range of applicants. Eligible applicants include a diverse array of domestic institutions and organizations such as state and local governments, federally recognized and other Native American tribal organizations, nonprofits, public and private higher education institutions, and both small and other for-profit businesses. The program restricts eligibility to organizations within the 50 states, U.S. territories, and associated Pacific jurisdictions. Applicants may contact Jason Steele, the program's point of contact, by phone at (301) 443-2203 or via email at ruralresidency@hrsa.gov for more information. This grant is forecasted to recur annually, with each new funding round expected to follow a similar schedule unless otherwise updated. The next estimated due date is May 15, 2027. Organizations interested in applying should monitor the HRSA website or Grants.gov for the official Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) once it is posted, which will contain specific application components, requirements, and evaluation criteria.