HRSA Releases PA Rural Training Program Notice of Funding Opportunity
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has released a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the new Primary Care Training and Enhancement – Physician Assistant Rural Training (PCTE-PAR) program. This funding, building upon $2 million in additional PCTE-PA awards made to 7 programs earlier this year, seeks to address both clinical training site shortages and workforce gaps in rural communities – two key priorities for PAEA.
Program objectives that all grantees must meet are:
- Provide PA students with longitudinal clinical training experiences for a minimum of 8 weeks in primary care in rural areas.
- Educate and train primary care PAs to identify and address health inequities, health disparities, and social determinants of health in the communities they serve.
- Develop and strengthen partnerships between academia, primary care delivery sites and systems, State Offices of Rural Health, the National Rural Health Association and community-based organizations to implement interprofessional rural clinical training experiences for primary care PA students.
- Increase the number of preceptors to train PA students in rural primary care settings.
Applicants are encouraged to address one of HHS’s and HRSA’s clinical priorities, including:
- Ending the crisis of opioid addiction and overdose in America;
- Improving mental health access and care;
- Transforming the health care system through value-based care delivery and quality improvement initiatives;
- Transforming the workforce –by targeting the need; and
- Strengthening health care access through telehealth.
HRSA intends to make awards to 7 PA programs for this application cycle with an annual funding ceiling of $300,000. Awards will be made for five years for a project period of July 1, 2022-June 30, 2027.
Applications for the PCTE-PAR program are due to HRSA by December 9, 2021. Members with questions about this funding opportunity are invited to contact Tyler Smith at tsmith@PAEAonline.org.