[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 93 (Monday, May 17, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Page 26736]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-10338]



[[Page 26736]]

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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Health Resources and Services Administration


Notice of Supplemental Award to the University of Southern Maine 
Rural Health Research Center

AGENCY: Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Department 
of Health and Human Services.

ACTION: Notice of Supplemental Award.

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SUMMARY: HRSA announces the award of a supplement in the amount of 
$175,000 for a HRSA-funded cooperative agreement awarded to the 
University of Southern Maine Rural Health Research Center. The 
supplement will fund a comprehensive region wide assessment of health 
issues to improve health care in rural areas of the Northern Border 
Region (NBR) of the U.S.--Grant Number U1CRH03716.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information regarding this 
request, please contact Jennifer Burges via email at [email protected] 
or by phone at (301) 945-3985).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Intended Recipient of Award: University of Southern Maine.
    Amount of the Non-Competitive Award: $175,000.
    Period of Supplemental Funding: 9/1/2020-08/31/2021.
    CFDA Number: 93.155.
    Authority: Section 711(b) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
912(b)(5)), as amended.

                                      Table 1--Recipients and Award Amount
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                                                                                                      FY 2020
                                                                                      FY 2020        estimated
      Grantee/organization name                Grant No.               State        authorized     supplemental
                                                                                   funding level      funding
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University of Southern Maine.........  U1CRH03716...............  ME                    $700,000        $175,000
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    Justification: The Rural Health Research Center (RHRC) program's 
purpose is to support high-quality, impartial, policy-relevant research 
to assist health care providers and decision/policy-makers at the 
federal, state, and local levels in better understanding the health 
care challenges faced by rural communities to improve health care in 
rural areas. RHRC recipients conduct policy-oriented health services 
research, update trend analyses and existing research, and conduct 
necessary literature reviews on rural health issues and synthesize the 
issues into publically available policy briefs designed to improve 
health care in rural areas.
    In fiscal year 2021 departmental appropriations report language, 
HRSA's Federal Office of Rural Health Policy was directed to fund 
programs to assist the NBR, which is comprised of the States of 
Vermont, Maine, New York and New Hampshire. As part of that directive, 
HRSA intends to work in consultation with the Northern Border Region 
Commission to fund one RHRC to do a comprehensive region wide 
assessment of health, health outcomes, health needs, and health assets 
for the purpose of improving health care in rural areas within the NBR. 
The only RHRC positioned to do this work is the University of Southern 
Maine. It is the only RHRC that is located within the NBR states that 
has the capability to research regional rural health care needs and has 
experience working with the required data from these states. The 
proposed activities are within the scope of their current RHRC grant.

Diana Espinosa,
Acting Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2021-10338 Filed 5-14-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4165-15-P