STATE OFFICE OF RURAL HEALTH - Project Abstract Project Title: Arizona State Office of Rural Health (AzSORH) Program, FY 2027-2031 Applicant Organization Name: The University of Arizona, Arizona Board of Regents Address: 888 N. Euclid. Room 520, Tucson, AZ 85719 Project Director: Daniel Derksen, M.D. Contact Phone: 520-626-3085 Contact Email: dderksen@arizona.edu Website: www.crh.arizona.edu Funds Requested: The Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) State Office of Rural Health (SORH) federal funds of $243,410 per year for five years, a total of $1,217,050. Required 3:1 State of Arizona matching funds of $730,230 per year for five years, a total of $3,651,150. Total combined funded for five years is $4,868,200. Project Description: The mission of the Arizona Center for Rural Health (AzCRH) is to improve the health and wellness of Arizona’s rural and underserved populations. AzCRH is situated in the Zuckerman College of Public Health at the University of Arizona. AzCRH houses the State of Arizona and federal funded & designated State Office of Rural Health Program (SORH, since 1990). AzCRH also houses the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility (since 1999) and Small Rural Hospital Improvement (SHIP, since 2002) Programs. AzCRH administers several interagency services agreements with the State of Arizona via federal subawards. SORH forms the AzCRH foundational infrastructure, supported by a 3:1 match from the State of Arizona. The SORH Program Goal is to assist states in strengthening rural health care delivery systems by maintaining a focal point for rural health within each state. The AzSORH 2026-2032 Work Plan focuses on three core program areas with objectives to: 1) Collect and disseminate information to include dissemination, response to inquiries, and promotion of resources regarding grant opportunities, research findings, policy updates, best-practices, and other rural health issues to stakeholders in a timely manner. 2) Coordinate rural health care activities in the state to avoid redundancies, to include community, regional, statewide, and national partnerships on issues and activities that impact health in rural communities; to support multistate workforce recruitment & retention systems. 3) Provide technical assistance (TA) to public and non-profit entities, to include TA pertaining to federal, state, and non-governmental rural health programs, grants, loans, and other funding sources; and increasing capacity in rural communities to develop and sustain successful rural health programs and services. Arizona is the sixth-largest state in land area; 7 of its 15 counties are classified as 100% rural; 4 counties share the Arizona-Mexico border of over 370 miles. Two counties - Maricopa (Phoenix) and Pima (Tucson) comprised 76% of Arizona’s 7,582,384 total population in 2024. Most Arizona’s health facilities, licensed health providers, and health professional education and training programs are concentrated in these two populous counties. Arizona’s rural residents earn $24,000 less on average, have higher unemployment rates, lower educational attainment, less private health insurance coverage, higher rates of Medicaid and Medicare coverage, less access to primary and specialty health care services, and must travel much longer distances to obtain health care than Arizonans living in Maricopa and Pima Counties. These factors create significant barriers to health care access, affordability and continuity of health care for rural Arizonans. Arizona Board of Regents, University of Arizona. Arizona State Office of Rural Health Program, H95RH00102.
