Rural Residency Planning and Development Program

The Rural Residency Planning and Development Program is a forecasted federal grant opportunity administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services through the Health Resources and Services Administration. The program is listed under Assistance Listing 93.746, Rural Residency Development Program, and is categorized as a discretionary health funding opportunity. The program is intended to improve and expand access to rural health care by supporting the development of new, accredited, and sustainable rural physician residency programs, including rural track programs. The underlying strategy is to increase physician training in rural areas and ultimately increase physician practice in rural communities experiencing physician shortages. The program provides start-up funding for the creation of new rural residency programs in qualifying medical specialties. The qualifying specialties identified in the forecast are family medicine, internal medicine, psychiatry, general surgery, and obstetrics and gynecology. For purposes of this funding opportunity, eligible rural residency programs are accredited physician residency programs that train residents at clinical training sites physically located in a rural area, as defined by the Health Resources and Services Administration Federal Office of Rural Health Policy, for greater than 50 percent of the residents' total time in residency. Programs must also focus on preparing physicians to practice in rural communities. The forecast indicates estimated total program funding of 11250000, with approximately 15 awards expected and an award ceiling of 750000. The source reports an award floor of zero; because a zero award floor is treated as missing under the applicable data-entry rules, no award floor is recorded in the structured grant data. No cost sharing or matching is required. The funding is specifically described as start-up funding for creating new rural residency programs. The source further states that long-term sustainability funding must come from viable and stable sources such as Medicare, Medicaid, and other public or private sources. No additional allowable-cost categories, indirect cost limits, subaward limits, or detailed period-of-performance restrictions are provided in the forecasted information. Eligibility is broad with respect to organizational type but geographically limited to domestic organizations. Listed eligible applicants include small businesses, other for-profit organizations, nonprofit organizations with or without 501(c)(3) status other than institutions of higher education, special district governments, public housing authorities and Indian housing authorities, county governments, independent school districts, public and state controlled institutions of higher education, private institutions of higher education, Native American tribal organizations, federally recognized Native American tribal governments, city or township governments, and state governments. The listing also describes eligibility as unrestricted among the listed entity types, subject to the additional eligibility information. Only domestic organizations are eligible. For this opportunity, domestic includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau. Faith-based organizations are expressly eligible. The opportunity is currently forecasted rather than open for application. The forecast was dated August 7, 2026, and was last updated on August 7, 2026. The estimated posting and application opening date is December 18, 2026. The estimated application deadline is March 18, 2027, and electronically submitted applications must be submitted no later than 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on that date. The provided forecast does not identify a letter of intent, concept paper, pre-proposal, notice of intent, or other pre-application gating requirement. It also does not provide application questions, required uploads, evaluation criteria, scoring criteria, or detailed submission mechanics beyond the electronic submission deadline. Those details may be provided when the full notice of funding opportunity is posted. The estimated award date is July 1, 2027, and the estimated project start date is August 1, 2027. The forecast lists an archive date of April 17, 2027 and identifies fiscal year 2027. No statement establishes that the opportunity is annual, biennial, quarterly, or otherwise recurring, so recurrence is not inferred. Questions concerning the program may be directed to Jason Steele at ruralresidency@hrsa.gov or 301-443-2203. Because this is a forecasted opportunity, the dates and application requirements currently available are estimates rather than final requirements from a posted notice of funding opportunity.

Align the proposed residency with a qualifying medical specialty and the program goal of increasing rural physician training and practice. Ensure the residency is an accredited physician residency program and that residents train at clinical sites physically located in a qualifying rural area for greater than 50 percent of their total residency time. Address long-term sustainability through viable and stable funding sources because the grant is described as start-up funding.