This notice announces the opportunity to apply for funding under the Rural Telementoring Training Center (RTTC) Program. The purpose of this program is to train academic medical centers and other centers of excellence (COEs) to create or expand technology-enabled collaborative learning and capacity building models (such as Project ECHO, ECHO-like models, and other emerging models in the field). The RTTC will develop and share freely accessible tools and resources that are adaptable to culturally and regionally diverse populations to provide training nationwide to facilitate the dissemination of best practice specialty care to primary care providers and care teams in rural and underserved areas.
This cooperative agreement aligns with HRSA’s goals of fostering a health care workforce to address current and emerging needs, improving access to quality health services, achieving health equity, and enhancing population health. This RTTC’s focus is to train and support academic medical centers and other centers of excellence to provide technology-enabled telementoring that will ultimately better equip the health care workforce in rural communities to meet critical demands while improving access to health care.
The freely accessible tools and resources developed by the RTTC will enhance rural patients’ access to quality care using telehealth and innovative technology solutions. The RTTC will foster and support coordination of health services by encouraging the use of health care delivery models that utilize team-based approaches where each member practices at the full scope of their training.
The RTTC will also develop appropriate methodology to evaluate and identify outcomes associated with telementoring initiatives. The program’s objectives emphasize the following:
• identifying and expanding current and new telementoring learning programs
• developing freely accessible tools and resources to support telementoring learning program planning and implementation
• creating a standardized telementoring learning program data set and evaluation toolkit
HRSA expects the RTTC to provide technical assistance (TA) resources that are national in scope and that will meet the needs of rural communities and practitioners. The RTTC will assist health care organizations such as academic medical centers and other centers of excellence in the implementation of cost-effective telementoring programs to serve rural and medically underserved areas and populations.
