CalRHT Grant Programs Now Open, Applications Due This Month

The California Rural Health Transformation (CalRHT) program has opened a set of grant funding opportunities, aligned to its three initiatives – Transformative Care Model, Workforce Development, and Technology and Tools. For additional background on CalRHT, please see CSAC’s previous post.  

Four grant funding opportunities are now open through the CalRHT program: 

• Accelerator Partners — Proposed as support for hospitals or other organizations in rural regions that demonstrate strong readiness and commitment to implement the CalRHT Transformative Care Model (TCM) through regional care collaboratives and hub-and-spoke relationships which will seek to strengthen primary and maternity care in rural parts of the state.  Applications are due August 14^th, 2026. 

• Expand and Support Rural Workforce Capacity — The Family Medicine Obstetrics (FM-OB) Fellowship Subaward Program under Expand and Support Rural Workforce Capacity is intended to fund the programmatic and infrastructure costs of expanding family medicine obstetrics fellowship capacity. Primary applicants for the Family Medicine Obstetrics Fellowship Subaward Program must be aspiring or existing graduate medical education sponsoring institutions. The Program expands access to high-quality maternity and perinatal care in California’s rural communities by increasing the number of family physicians with advanced obstetrics training. Through support for family medicine obstetrics fellowship programs and regional collaborative care models, the program builds sustainable obstetric workforce capacity where rural patients receive care, preparing physicians to practice in underserved communities and improving maternal and infant health outcomes. Applications are due August 14, 2026.  

• Workforce Development Recruitment and Retention Program — Aims to strengthen and sustain the rural healthcare workforce by improving recruitment, retention, and training for health professionals, with a focus on those who provide primary care and maternal health services. The Workforce Development Recruitment and Retention Program will fund eligible organizations to retain health professionals already practicing in rural communities and to recruit or relocate eligible health professionals to qualifying rural sites as defined by the federal Health Resources and Services Administration. Applications are due August 31, 2026.  

• Electronic Health Record Modernization Grants — Funds the foundational systems required for basic data exchange by ensuring rural facilities can purchase and sustain modern, secure electronic health records and funding is directed to the entities and activities that support implementation and scale. Allowable uses are limited to Core Electronic Health Record Modernization, including adoption and configuration of a first-time electronic health records or replacing an existing system. Applications are due August 21, 2026.  

Additional information and resources related to each grant program can be found on the CalRHT website.