Rural Hospital Provider Assistance Program - Harrison Memorial Hospital Funding Opportunity Number: HRSA-26-105 Assistance Listing Number: 93.811 Applicant Name: Harrison Memorial Hospital Descriptive Title of Applicant’s Project: Harrison Memorial Hospital Provider Retention and Rural Access Initiative Requested Funding Amount: $148,000 Abstract: Harrison Memorial Hospital (HMH) is a 61-bed independent, non-profit regional healthcare facility located in Cynthiana, Kentucky, and serves as a critical healthcare anchor for Harrison County and surrounding rural communities. Despite its broader capacity, maintaining consistent, high-quality coverage of primary and specialty care providers in rural Harrison County presents distinct operational challenges due to a low wage index value. Local primary care capacity is severely strained by the distinct demographic and socioeconomic pressures of Harrison County’s population. The service area is located in a Low-Income Population Primary Care Health Provider Shortage Area (HPSA) with an HPSA score of 16 and a provider-to-patient ratio of 2,120:1. These challenges are reflected in the Service Area Needs Assessment Methodology (SANAM), which yields a calculated Unmet Needs Score (UNS) of 58.52, corresponding to 12 on a 0-20 scale. The high UNS reflects a significant unmet need for primary healthcare services within the community. The population served by HMH experiences demographic and socio-economic realities that increase demand for continuous primary care. 19.2% of Harrison County residents are aged 65 or older, a demographic with heightened healthcare utilization rates and complex, age-related chronic conditions. 18.6% of the county's non-institutionalized civilian population suffers from a disability, requiring consistent local management from dedicated medical homes to avoid preventable hospitalizations. 17.1% of the county population lives below the Federal Poverty Level. Given that 9.7% of county workers face a long commute of over 60 minutes to work, a shortage of local doctors creates severe transportation barriers, forcing low-income patients to travel out of the county for basic preventive care or forgo it entirely. The primary goal of this initiative is to stabilize and maintain Harrison County’s healthcare infrastructure by directly supporting the retention of essential primary care physicians, thereby preventing service reductions and ensuring sustained access to community-based care. HMH will directly apply grant funding to support competitive compensation and retention models for primary care physicians, insulating local practitioners from regional wage-index disparities. By securing continuous clinical operations across HMH primary care clinics, HMH ensures uninterrupted access to comprehensive wellness exams, chronic disease management, and localized diagnostic services. Expected outcomes include a 100% retention rate of current target primary care physician staffing levels across HMH clinics over the performance period. Prevention of clinic closures or reduced service hours, preserving local, same-county care options for the 19,140 residents of Harrison County, and uninterrupted, locally accessible preventative care pipelines for the county’s low-income, disabled, and elderly populations, mitigating travel-related barriers to care.
