Service Area Competition | HRSA 16 007

Opportunity Information: Apply for HRSA 16 007

The Service Area Competition (SAC) funding opportunity is a Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) grant announcement under the Health Center Program (CFDA 93.224) designed to keep primary care access in place for medically underserved communities. In practical terms, SAC is how HRSA competes and awards continued operational support for an announced service area so that patients in that area do not lose access to a comprehensive, culturally competent, high-quality safety net health center. The opportunity covers several types of Health Center Program scope awards under section 330 of the Public Health Service Act, including Community Health Centers (330(e)), Migrant Health Centers (330(g)), Health Care for the Homeless (330(h)), and Public Housing Primary Care (330(i)). Throughout the announcement, these are collectively referred to as "health centers."

Eligible applicants must be either a public entity or a private nonprofit entity, and they must be able to prove that status through the required documentation (the FOA points to the "Evidence of Non-profit/Public Center Status" submission requirements). The eligibility language also makes clear that faith-based and community-based organizations may apply, and that Tribes and tribal organizations are eligible as well. The overall intent is to fund patient-directed organizations that can operate like federally supported health centers and meet program expectations tied to access, governance, and service delivery in underserved settings.

A central requirement is that applicants are seeking support to operate a full health center model, not a narrow or single-service clinic. The proposed project must provide required comprehensive primary and preventive health care services along with enabling services, either directly or through formal established arrangements, and services must be provided without regard to a patient’s ability to pay. The FOA explicitly notes that an applicant cannot propose to provide only one type of service (for example, only dental care, only behavioral health, or only prenatal care). The grant is meant to sustain integrated primary care capacity rather than fund a standalone specialty component.

The application must align with an "announced service area" and the associated patient population identified in the Service Area Announcement Table (SAAT). HRSA uses the SAAT to define the competition area and to set expectations for who should be served and where those patients reside. The FOA sets measurable service commitments tied to that SAAT information. First, the applicant’s projected total unduplicated patients to be served by December 31, 2017 (reported on Form 1A) must reach at least 75 percent of the SAAT patient target. Second, the zip codes listed for service area on Form 5B (Service Sites) must reflect where at least 75 percent of the health center’s current patients live, and applicants are instructed to use the SAAT to determine the zip codes where the majority of patients reside.

The FOA also emphasizes accountability for patient projections. Health centers will be held responsible for serving the number of patients they project, including increases associated with any supplemental awards received during the project period. If a funded health center cannot demonstrate that it is serving the cumulative total of projected patients by December 31, 2017, HRSA indicates that the announced funding for the service area may be reduced proportionally. In other words, patient volume projections are not just planning numbers; they are performance expectations that can affect future funding levels.

Finally, the announcement flags that HRSA considers service area overlap when making funding determinations, especially for new or competing supplement requests if an applicant proposes zip codes beyond those listed in the SAAT. The FOA references HRSA Policy Information Notice 2007-09 for additional context on overlap rules. Administrative details in the source data indicate this is a discretionary grant opportunity (HRSA-16-007) that anticipated 51 awards, with an original closing date of December 2, 2015, and an award ceiling listed as 0 (which typically signals that award amounts vary by service area and are specified elsewhere in HRSA’s related tables or notices rather than capped in the FOA header).

• The Health Resources and Services Administration in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Service Area Competition" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.224.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2015-09-29.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2015-12-02. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 51 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for HRSA 16 007

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: