The Illinois Primary Health Care Association is administering Rural Integration and Systems Enhancement (RISE) as an Illinois Rural Health Transformation Program sub-award opportunity supported by federal pass-through funding from the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services. The RFP provides $13,781,706 in total funding, with estimated awards from $125,000 to $1,000,000, an average award of approximately $345,000, and about 40 awards anticipated. The project period is November 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027.
Eligible applicants are Illinois-headquartered Federally Qualified Health Centers, FQHC Look-Alikes, local health departments that provide ambulatory care, and Rural Health Clinics not associated with a hospital. Applicants must serve rural populations, locate the proposed project in rural areas, and have capacity to connect their current EHR to the VedaPointe Core system for reporting.
RISE is designed to strengthen rural primary care and safety-net infrastructure through integrated, team-based care. The RFP expressly contemplates health IT infrastructure supporting telehealth services, care integration and coordination, population health management, EHR interoperability, and AI-enabled clinical decision support, along with clinical connections to specialists and other integrated-care models. Atlas Opportunity Score: 97/100. N9+ Fit Score: 94/100 conditional. A legitimate role for the Nonagon N9+ device and platform exists where an applicant designs a clinically appropriate connected-care, telehealth, specialist-access, or chronic-care workflow and confirms budget allowability, procurement, clinical governance, privacy, security, interoperability, and implementation requirements.
Critical application gate: the RFP required a mandatory Letter of Intent by August 31, 2026 at 5:00 PM. The final proposal deadline is September 21, 2026 at 5:00 PM. The controlling RFP does not separately state a time zone. Organizations that did not timely submit the required Letter of Intent should not be treated as eligible new applicants for this cycle. Organizations that did submit the LOI must email all required proposal components to RHTsubmissions@iphca.org with the required RISE proposal subject line.
Required proposal materials include a project narrative, work plan, project budget and justification, geographic service area template, up to five letters of commitment, signed Statements of Assurance covering VedaPointe data linkage, rural populations, and GATA prequalification/ICQ requirements, an organizational chart, NICRA if applicable, and a post-submission questionnaire. The reviewed RFP does not state a separate applicant matching percentage; it does prohibit using RISE funds to satisfy matching requirements for other federal or local funding.