On December 13, HRSA Administrator Carole Johnson joined White House Domestic Policy Advisor Susan E. Rice, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, and New Jersey First Lady Tammy Murphy at a convening on maternal health.

Attendees discussed key actions to improve the health of pregnant and postpartum individuals – including the need for a robust and diverse maternity care workforce and the ability for consumers to easily identify health systems engaged in improving maternal care. “We must continue to build a maternal health workforce that reflects the communities and voices of those it serves, support pregnant people not only in their clinical care but also in the community, and continue to strengthen federal-state partnerships in this work. We look forward to Congress acting quickly on these priorities,” Administrator Johnson said of the work ahead. You can watch her full remarks here.

December 9 – HRSA awarded nearly $350 million to 1,471 HRSA-supported health centers to increase COVID-19 vaccinations in their communities, with a specific focus on underserved populations. This funding supports the Biden Administration’s efforts to get more Americans their updated COVID-19 vaccine before the end of the year. Read the White House fact sheet and HHS press release.

View an interactive map of the FY 2023 award recipients.

HRSA is making available approximately 40 awards of up to $500,000 per year through the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program-Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (RCORP-NAS) program to reduce the impact and incidence of neonatal abstinence syndrome in rural communities. Grantees will use the funding to provide behavioral health care services, including medication-assisted treatment, to rural pregnant and postpartum people with substance use disorder, and their families within HRSA-designated rural areas. Since 2018, HRSA has invested over $500 million through RCORP to address mental health needs, substance use disorder, and opioid use disorder in rural communities.

Learn more about RCORP-NAS and apply today.

ICYMI, we celebrated National Rural Health Day on Thursday, November 17. This year’s theme was on behavioral health and we highlighted the innovative ways rural communities are expanding access to mental health and substance use disorder services for those who need them the most.

Visit the National Rural Health Day Resource Page to browse recorded webinars from this year’s event and find other useful resources.