Eligible hospital subaward opportunity
Utah Healthcare Education and Research Foundation (UHERF), a subsidiary of Utah Hospital Association, administers the RHTP RISE 2.5 Recruit and Retain program for a specified group of 25 eligible Tier 1 Utah rural hospitals. This is a restricted, noncompetitive applicant-facing subaward process; it is not open to every hospital, nursing home, or vendor. It differs from the separately administered Tier 4 nursing-home and skilled-nursing-facility RISE 2.5 subawards.
Funding
The Tier 1 hospital program has $9,397,152 in total available funding for 25 participating rural hospitals. The RFA establishes a $341,816 minimum award floor. Each hospital has an individually determined award ceiling stated in its private UHERF welcome letter; these individual limits are not publicly published and must not be confused with the total pool. Funds reimburse approved and properly documented expenses; this is not a payment of unrestricted cash. Funds must be spent by September 30, 2027.
Who is eligible
Only one of the 25 designated Tier 1 rural Utah hospitals may apply. The hospital must be in an eligible Utah rural county, excluding Davis, Salt Lake, Utah and Weber, independently bill Medicare or Medicaid and be eligible to receive federal funds. Each hospital must submit a specific workforce needs plan and budget, even though its funding allocation is noncompetitive and based on a prior needs formula.
Allowable activities and restrictions
Allowable approved incentives include recruitment marketing, short-term local housing support for clinical rotations, certain candidate travel and relocation expenses, onboarding, living assistance, signing or retention bonuses, clinical rotation support, childcare options, pooled backup capacity and approved professional upskilling. Incentives for individual clinical staff generally require at least 15 hours of direct patient care weekly; certain personal incentives carry a five-year rural Utah service commitment and prorated repayment rules. Prohibitions include ordinary building construction, loan repayment, unapproved meals, duplicate signing bonuses for relocation within rural Utah and spreading payments across multiple budget years. Specific nonfederal matching is not established in the published RFA. Quarterly and annual outcome and service-commitment reporting extends beyond the expense period.
Application steps and deadline
Applications and budgets must be submitted through Submittable, linked from the Utah Hospital Association RHTP funding page, by Friday, November 20, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. Mountain Time. Questions are due November 13. Prepare the hospital contact and identification information, UEI, staffing and vacancy analysis, individual incentive selections and counts, a matching budget workbook, sustainability plan, certifications and authorized signature. The RFA lists varying December 15 and December 31 dates for subaward agreement execution, so confirm award execution timing with UHERF. Rely on the complete official eleven-page RFA and any current amendments.