Evaluator for HRSA rural health and Healthy Start applications
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HRSA scores every application on how it will measure and report its results, and the data questions reach well beyond the section with evaluation in its name. Rural networks and community consortia rarely have an evaluator on staff. We can be yours. Our experience is extensive in health care and in pregnancy and postpartum services, the ground Healthy Start covers.
How does HRSA score evaluation in rural health and Healthy Start applications?
In the announcements we reviewed, performance reporting and evaluation carries 10 to 20 of 100 points: 20 in the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program’s Impact round, 10 in the Rural Health Network Advancement, Outreach and Healthy Start programs. The need, impact and capability sections also ask for data and outcomes. Plotline Evaluation writes that content with applicants and carries it out after the award.
What HRSA’s announcements score
- Rural Communities Opioid Response Program, Impact (HRSA-26-037): “Performance reporting and evaluation” carries 20 of 100 points, including “your capacity to gather, manage, and use data to report on required performance measures, together with network partners.” Awards up to $750,000, in four 12-month budget periods.
- Rural Health Network Advancement Program (HRSA-26-082): 10 points for a program self-assessment (questions, methods, data sources, timeline) and performance measurement. Awards up to $500,000 a year for four years.
- Rural Health Care Services Outreach Program (HRSA-25-038): “Evaluation measures” carries 10 points. Awards up to $250,000 to $300,000 a year for four years.
- Healthy Start (HRSA-24-033): “Evaluative measures” carries 10 points and asks for a program evaluation plan covering inputs, key processes and expected outcomes. Awards up to $1.1 million a year for five years.
- In each of these, the need, response, impact and capability sections also ask for data and outcomes, so the evaluation thinking runs through most of the score.
Facts on this page were checked against the official sources on October 31, 2026. Rules change; rely on the official announcement or regulation linked here, not on this summary.
Where we fit
We write the measurement and evaluation content with you before the deadline and carry it out after the award.
- The evaluation plan and logic model, and the needs statement built on real data
- Performance measures your network partners can actually collect and share
- Data management across several organizations, which is where network grants succeed or fail
- Focus groups, interviews and surveys with patients, providers and partners
- Quantitative analysis and expert data visualization for HRSA reports and your own board
- Final reporting in multiple formats: full report, executive summary, slide deck, one-page brief or dashboard
Mixed methods is our default design: qualitative and quantitative data, collected together and reported as one story.
Timing
As of October 31, 2026, the most recent rounds of all four programs have closed. grants.gov lists FY2027 forecasts, with no announcement text yet, for the Rural Health Network Development Program (HRSA-27-051, about 23 awards) and for three community rounds of the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program: Overdose Response (HRSA-27-040, about 35 awards), Community Systems Development (HRSA-27-042, about 6 awards) and Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health (HRSA-27-043, about 9 awards). The forecasts estimate posting in January or February 2027 and due dates in March or April 2027. HRSA’s rural health grants page shows what is current. Program names change from year to year, so check the number as well as the title.
The FY2026 RCORP-Impact round was open for about five weeks, from June 5 to July 8, 2026 (HRSA). Our free evaluation plan lets you start before the announcement posts.
Questions people ask
Which HRSA programs does this page cover?
The Rural Communities Opioid Response Program, the Rural Health Network Advancement Program, the Rural Health Care Services Outreach Program and Healthy Start. Program names and numbers change from year to year, so check the number as well as the title.
Our network has no evaluator on staff. Is that a problem?
It is the usual case. Rural networks and community consortia rarely have an evaluator on staff; we serve as the contracted evaluator, including data management across the partner organizations, which is where network grants succeed or fail.
Watching a HRSA rural or Healthy Start announcement?
Tell us the program and who is in your network or consortium. You will hear back within one business day.
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