The Rural Hospital Provider Assistance Program provides direct financial assistance to eligible rural hospitals facing structural payment disadvantages for the maintenance of health care providers with the goal of maintaining essential health care services and preventing avoidable closures. Eligible rural hospitals must have no more than 50 acute care inpatient beds and an established Medicare wage index value below 0.90.

Prior to publishing this NOFO, HRSA published a Federal Register Notice (FRN) detailing the methodology and data sources used to determine eligible hospitals. You can view the FRN at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/04/29/2026-08300/rural-hospital-provider-assistance-program.You can apply if you: 1) have no more than 50 acute care inpatient beds, 2) have an established wage index value of less than 0.90 as determined by the Secretary of HHS under section 1886(d)(3)(E) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395ww(d)(3)(E)), and 3) are located in a rural area as defined by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy.

Krista Mastel RuralHospitals@hrsa.gov