This notice solicits applications for the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program-Behavioral Health Care Technical Assistance (RCORP-BHCTA). The purpose of this cooperative agreement is to strengthen, through technical assistance (TA), rural organizations’ capacity to develop multi-sector consortia that can plan, implement, and sustain programs that improve access to and quality of behavioral health care services, including substance use disorder (SUD)/opioid use disorder (OUD) services.
For the purposes of this cooperative agreement, improving rural behavioral health care service delivery includes increasing access to and utilization of prevention, treatment, and recovery services to improve health care for those affected by behavioral health conditions, which may include substance use and mental health disorders. Evidence-based prevention strategies improve health care in rural communities by reducing the strain on the rural health care system while also providing a cost-effective way of addressing and minimizing the individual and societal costs of behavioral health disorders.
This cooperative agreement will continue and enhance the TA efforts that began in 2018 for the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program (RCORP), a multi-year HRSA initiative aimed at reducing the morbidity and mortality of SUD, including OUD, in high-risk rural communities through the provision of prevention, treatment, and recovery services1.
The cooperative agreement recipient will provide TA to current and future RCORP award recipients, as well as other, non-RCORP award recipients, as determined by HRSA. For more information on RCORP, including a list of current programs and award recipients, visit here: https://www.hrsa.gov/rural-health/rcorp
