Department of Health – Rural Health Research Center Cooperative Agreement

Applicants should have experience in analyzing rural health issues as defined by the following: Principal Investigators should have 5-10 years of work experience specific to rural health research and should have a doctoral degree. The principal investigator should have substantial expertise on the rural health topic of concentration as evidenced by authorship or co-authorship of a combined five rural-relevant policy briefs, peer-reviewed journal articles (at least two of the five must be articles in journals such as Journal of Rural Health, American Journal of Public Health, Journal of Aging and Health), and other written materials and presentations at national, state, and regional conferences. Applicants should also be familiar and/or have used/manipulated appropriate and complex data sets pertinent to their proposals. Applicants should be able to demonstrate that the majority of their affiliated researchers have a track record in analyzing rural health services issues and each applicant organization should be able to clearly demonstrate that the topic and issue areas included in the application demonstrate a thorough understanding of policy relevant issues and their key impact on rural communities. Applications that fail to show such experience will not be competitive.

RHRC recipients will conduct policy-oriented health services research on rural issues and synthesize the results into reports easily understood by a non-technical policy audience. They will develop and disseminate research products in consultation with ORHP, in its official policy role, to State Offices of Rural Health and other decision-makers. RHRC recipients will maintain and keep up-to-date an extensive library of data sets on their rural topic of concentration (e.g., include access to health care for the under- and uninsured, health care quality and outcomes, home health, and rural health clinics, racial and ethnic disparities) geo-coded so they can analyze the data for a variety of definitions of rural. Recipients will develop a policy-relevant research portfolio each year with input from ORHP, their Expert Work Group (if applicable), and other decision-makers. RHRC recipients must frame rural issues into researchable questions. Applicants must demonstrate capabilities in manipulating complex data sets and in linking across data sets.

The awards provided through the RHRC Cooperative Agreement Program are designed to provide support for a four-year research center with a specific area of research concentration, and intended to provide an infrastructure to support health services researchers entering the field to explore the research complexities of rural health issues. This Cooperative Agreement Program will support health services research projects but excludes clinical/biomedical research and the expenditure of funds for delivery of services.