Rural Residency Planning and Development Program
This grant provides start-up funds to create accredited rural physician residency programs in select specialties to increase healthcare access and address doctor shortages in rural areas.
Funder: Health Resources and Services Administration
Due Dates (Anticipated): July 2026
Funding Amounts: Up to $750,000 per award; approx. $11.25M total program funding; ~15 awards expected.
Summary: Supports the development of new, accredited, sustainable rural physician residency programs to improve rural healthcare access and address physician shortages.
Description
This program aims to improve and expand access to healthcare in rural areas by providing start-up funding for the development of new, accredited, and sustainable rural residency programs, including rural track programs (RTPs). The initiative targets physician shortages in rural communities by increasing the number of residency programs in key medical specialties such as family medicine, internal medicine, preventive medicine, psychiatry, general surgery, and obstetrics and gynecology. Funded programs must train residents in clinical sites physically located in rural areas (as defined by HRSA’s Federal Office of Rural Health Policy) for more than 50% of their residency and focus on preparing physicians to practice in rural communities. Long-term sustainability of these programs is expected to come from stable sources like Medicare, Medicaid, or other public/private funding.
