‘‘(A) a description of the project that the 
eligible entity will carry out using the funds 
provided under the grant; 
‘‘(B) a description of the manner in which 
the project funded under the grant will meet 
the health care needs of rural populations in 
the local community or region to be served; 
‘‘(C) a plan for quantifying how health 
care needs will be met through identification of 
the target population and benchmarks of service 
delivery or health status, such as— 
‘‘(i) quantifiable measurements of 
health status improvement for projects fo-
cusing on health promotion; or 
‘‘(ii) benchmarks of increased access 
to primary care, including tracking factors 
such as the number and type of primary 
care visits, identification of a medical 
home, or other general measures of such 
access; 
‘‘(D) a description of how the local com-
munity or region to be served will be involved 
in the development and ongoing operations of 
the project; 
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‘‘(E) a plan for sustaining the project after 
Federal support for the project has ended; 
‘‘(F) a description of how the project will 
be evaluated; 
‘‘(G) the administrative capacity to submit 
annual performance data electronically as speci-
fied by the Director; and 
‘‘(H) other such information as the Direc-
tor determines to be appropriate. 
‘‘(c) RURAL
HEALTH
NETWORK
DEVELOPMENT 
GRANTS.— 
‘‘(1) GRANTS.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The Director may 
award rural health network development grants 
to eligible entities to promote, through planning 
and implementation, the development of inte-
grated health care networks that have combined 
the functions of the entities participating in the 
networks in order to— 
‘‘(i) achieve efficiencies and economies 
of scale; 
‘‘(ii) expand access to, coordinate, and 
improve the quality of the health care de-
livery system through development of orga-
nizational efficiencies; 
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‘‘(iii) implement health information 
technology to achieve efficiencies, reduce 
medical errors, and improve quality; 
‘‘(iv) coordinate care and manage 
chronic illness; and 
‘‘(v) strengthen the rural health care 
system as a whole in such a manner as to 
show a quantifiable return on investment 
to the participants in the network. 
‘‘(B) GRANT PERIODS.—The Director may 
award such a rural health network development 
grant— 
‘‘(i) for a period of 3 years for imple-
mentation activities; or 
‘‘(ii) for a period of 1 year for plan-
ning activities to assist in the initial devel-
opment of an integrated health care net-
work, if the proposed participants in the 
network do not have a history of collabo-
rative efforts and a 3-year grant would be 
inappropriate. 
‘‘(2) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to receive a 
grant under this subsection, an entity— 
‘‘(A) shall be a rural public or rural non-
profit private entity, a facility that qualifies as 
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a rural health clinic under title XVIII of the 
Social Security Act, a public or nonprofit entity 
existing exclusively to provide services to mi-
grant and seasonal farm workers in rural areas, 
or a tribal government whose grant-funded ac-
tivities will be conducted within federally recog-
nized tribal areas 
‘‘(B) shall represent a network composed 
of participants— 
‘‘(i) that include 3 or more independ-
ently-owned health care entities; and 
‘‘(ii) that may be nonprofit or for- 
profit entities; and 
‘‘(C) shall not previously have received a 
grant under this subsection (other than a 1- 
year grant for planning activities) for the same 
or a similar project. 
‘‘(3) APPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to receive a 
grant under this subsection, an eligible entity, in 
consultation with the appropriate State office of 
rural health or another appropriate State entity, 
shall prepare and submit to the Director an applica-
tion at such time, in such manner, and containing 
such information as the Director may require, in-
cluding— 
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‘‘(A) a description of the project that the 
eligible entity will carry out using the funds 
provided under the grant; 
‘‘(B) an explanation of the reasons why 
Federal assistance is required to carry out the 
project; 
‘‘(C) a description of— 
‘‘(i) the history of collaborative activi-
ties carried out by the participants in the 
network; 
‘‘(ii) the degree to which the partici-
pants are ready to integrate their func-
tions; and 
‘‘(iii) how the local community or re-
gion to be served will benefit from and be 
involved in the activities carried out by the 
network; 
‘‘(D) a description of how the local com-
munity or region to be served will experience in-
creased access to quality health care services 
across the continuum of care as a result of the 
integration activities carried out by the net-
work, including a description of— 
‘‘(i) return on investment for the com-
munity and the network members; and 
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