Rural Outreach Benefits Counseling Program

The summary for the Rural Outreach Benefits Counseling Program grant is detailed below. This summary states who is eligible for the grant, how much grant money will be awarded, current and past deadlines, Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) numbers, and a sampling of similar government grants. Verify the accuracy of the data FederalGrants.com provides by visiting the webpage noted in the Link to Full Announcement section or by contacting the appropriate person listed as the Grant Announcement Contact. If any section is incomplete, please visit the website for the Health Resources and Services Administration, which is the U.S. government agency offering this grant.

Rural Outreach Benefits Counseling Program: This announcement solicits applications for the Rural Outreach Benefits Counseling Program (Benefits Counseling Program). The Benefits Counseling Program is a community-based pilot program targeted to improve outreach and service delivery in local and regional rural communities.  The purpose of the three-year Benefits Counseling Program is to expand outreach, education and enrollment efforts to eligible uninsured individuals and families, and newly insured individuals and families in rural communities.  For the purposes of this grant program, benefits counseling (outreach, education and enrollment efforts) will be limited to only public health insurance (Medicare, Medicaid and/or Children¿s Health Insurance Program), qualified health plans offered through Health Insurance Marketplace and/or private health insurance plans. The overarching goals of this grant funding are to coordinate and conduct innovative outreach activities through a strong consortium in order to: 1)      Identify and enroll uninsured individuals and families who are eligible for: public health insurance such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Children¿s Health Insurance Program, qualified health plans offered through Health Insurance Marketplaces and/or private health insurance plans in rural communities; and 2)      Educate the newly insured individuals in rural communities about their health insurance benefits, help connect them to primary care and preventive services to which they now have access, and help them retain their health insurance coverage. Proposed projects will have an outcomes-oriented approach that will enhance and sustain the delivery of effective benefits counseling in rural communities.  Another important program element is the requirement of consortiums to deliver these benefits counseling services.  Consortiums bring together rural providers, agencies and community organizations to address health care problems that are not easily solved by a single entity.  The Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) has found the most successful consortiums have the following common characteristics - involving all consortium members in the planning process and clearly defining roles for each consortium member.  An effective benefits counseling project should be coordinated and leverage partnerships with organizations who share an interest in increasing outreach, enrollment and education of health insurance coverage.  By leveraging these partnerships and other resources, an applicant can maximize federal funds by sharing administrative duties, referring clients/consumers to entities that have the capacity to enroll the uninsured or identifying opportunities to conduct joint outreach events. Activities funded under this grant will focus on conducting outreach and education in settings where eligible uninsured individuals and families may be identified and enrolled in health insurance coverage.  Outreach can include internal/¿in reach¿ efforts and/or external efforts.  Internal/ ¿in reach¿ efforts focus on contacting and enrolling people who are already getting services at a health care provider entity and streamlining the administrative processes to build outreach into the staff¿s daily work.  External outreach focuses on proactively seeking out uninsured people in the community, helping them find health care coverage and connecting them to care at an appropriate health care provider entity.  Both kinds of outreach are important.  All projects should incorporate enrollment and renewal assistance into their proposed activities.  This may include providing direct help to individuals/families seeking to enroll in health coverage or linking individuals/families with entities in the community who are trained to provide such application assistance.  This grant will also support activities designed to educate the newly insured in how to utilize health insurance and help connect them to primary and preventive health care services. As health care increasingly moves toward a focus on enhancing value in health care delivery, applicants are encouraged to develop innovative and comprehensive approaches to improve health care coverage in their rural community.  Applicants should think about how their proposed project addresses both goals of the Benefits Counseling Program and improves access for the large number of uninsured individuals and families in their community.  The President¿s Improve Rural Health Care Initiative continues to increase efficiency and assess the way rural programs are administered by focusing on building an evidence base to improve health care in rural communities.  The Benefits Counseling Program will support projects that demonstrate creative and effective models of outreach and benefits counseling services in rural communities that have a large number of uninsured individuals and families. As a recipient of a Benefits Counseling Program award, organizations may be offered targeted technical assistance throughout the three years of the project period to assist in achieving the project¿s desired outcomes and ensure program sustainability.  This additional support is provided at no extra cost to grantees as this is an investment made by FORHP to contribute to the success of the grantee projects.  FORHP has found that most grantees benefit greatly from the one-on-one support provided through this technical assistance.  Additional information about targeted technical assistance will be provided to organizations after award.