Rural Health Services Development Program
The Rural Health Services Development (RHSD) Program 2009-2012 REQUEST FOR APPLICATION (RFA) is not available due to the elimination of funds from the State Budget.
The mission of the Rural Health Services Development (RHSD) Program is to develop and maintain primary health care services in rural areas; provide financial and technical assistance to primary care clinics; and, coordinate similar programs of the federal government and other State and voluntary agencies.
The RHSD Program awards grants to community-based, private, non-profit, licensed primary health care clinics throughout rural California for the provision of comprehensive primary and preventive health care services. During FY 1997-2000, the RHSD Program is funding 71 clinics to support or enhance the delivery of primary health care. Currently, one-sixth of California's population lives in rural areas and is geographically spread throughout most of California. Rural residents are older, poorer, and have dramatically fewer health resources than their urban counterparts. Sparsity of physician distribution, coupled with climatic, topographic, and distance factors, isolates rural residents from accessible and available services.
The current legislative authority for the program was entered into law by SB 1117 in 1983, and re-codified in the Health and Safety Code, as Sections 124600 - 124750 (previously Sections 1183 - 1186), by SB 1360 in 1995.
Utilizing a variety of funding streams, the RHSD Program has successfully assisted rural community clinics in enhancing both primary medical and dental care services, nutrition counseling and health education. The goal is to improve the health status of targeted population groups living in medically underserved rural areas of the state.