Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program – Emergency Medical Services Supplement

This notice announces the opportunity to apply for funding under the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program (Flex Program) Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Supplement. Throughout this NOFO, the term Flex Program will refer to the larger, primary program while Flex EMS Supplement will refer to the supplemental projects that are the focus of this NOFO. The goal of this supplemental funding is to improve access to quality emergency medical care in rural communities. These projects will develop an evidence base for Flex Program EMS activities, by funding projects in the following two focus areas: Focus Area 1: To implement demonstration projects on sustainable models of rural EMS care. Projects will facilitate the development and implementation of promising solutions for the problems faced by vulnerable EMS agencies and contribute to an evidence base for appropriate interventions. Focus Area 2: To implement demonstration projects on data collection and reporting for a set of rural-relevant EMS quality measures. Projects will facilitate the development of a core set of validated, rural-relevant EMS quality measures. The state Flex programs who choose to apply for this supplement should propose a project that addresses one of the two focus areas (see Section IV.2, Program-Specific Instructions).

This competitive supplemental funding opportunity is only open to applicants for the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program cooperative agreement. As described in the Flex Program funding opportunity (NOFO HRSA-19-024), only states (current Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program award recipients in states with certified critical access hospitals) are eligible to apply for funding under this notice. The Governor designates the eligible applicant from each state. HRSA will accept only one application for the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program cooperative agreement (responding to NOFO HRSA-19-024) and only one application for the Flex EMS Supplement (responding to this NOFO, HRSA-19-095) from the same applicant in each state.

Sarah Young

(301)443-5905