Dear Flex Program Coordinators,
Happy New Year! I hope you all find a moment to take in the new year amidst the ever-changing environment, particularly with the pandemic still evolving daily. Please see some upcoming date reminders:
January 30 (Friday, January 28):
Federal Financial Report (FFR) due
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As of October 1, 2020, some changes have been made to the FFR submission process. You can find details on the change here:
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Note that you must use the FFR Remarks Section to express your intent to carry over funds. If you intend to carry over funds and do not note in this section, you will be required to resubmit your FFR.
- March 1: last day to submit a carryover request in Electronic Handbooks System (EHB). Process for requesting carryover:
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If you have an Unobligated Balance (UOB) for your U2W award, you have the option to carry over those funds to your current budget period, to be spent by August 31, 2022. Please discuss your plan to utilize your carryover with your Project Officer. You can then submit a Prior Approval – Carryover Request in EHB, which should include:
- Cover Letter – detailing the reason for the UOB and your plan to spend down the funds in the current budget period making direct connections to your work plan.
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Please note: you can use carryover funds to complete an activity that was delayed in the previous budget year or expand upon an existing work plan activity. You cannot use carryover funds for NEW activities.
- Budget Justification – for the carryover amount only
- SF424A – for the carryover amount only
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SF424A Form template can be found here
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Please see this helpful video about the carryover request process.
*Please refer to the email sent on January 11, 2022, for more detailed instructions and an example carryover submission.
The next round of Quality Innovation Labs (QILs) will gather again in February. FORHP underscores the role of State Flex Coordinators (SFCs) as the key points of contact for the QI project. Therefore all information will flow from FORHP to the SFC. If you are working with a contractor, it is the SFC's responsibility to disseminate information to any key personnel for this project.
I wanted to invite you all to participate in an opportunity to help us better understand rural stakeholder attitudes and experiences related to Healthy People 2030 objectives, which could help to guide future research and funding related to rural health.
Do you live or work in rural communities? The Southwest Rural Health Research Center at Texas A&M University wants to hear from individuals who live or work in rural communities for a 20-minute survey on the essential Healthy People 2030 objectives for rural health. The last day to complete the survey is February 14. The project is supported by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy through its Rural Health Research Centers program. Please reach out to Tim Callaghan, callaghan@tamu.edu, if you have any questions.
The Rural Residency Planning and Development-TA Center will be hosting a virtual webinar on February 8, 2022, at 12 PM/ET to discuss several Medicare graduate medical education (GME) policy changes and their impacts on expanding health care workforce training in rural and underserved areas. The RRPD-TA center provides technical assistance, resources, and tools to help grow graduate medical education (GME) programs in rural communities.
Registration is required. To learn more about the RRPD-TA center, visit www.ruralgme.org.
Many thanks,
Tori
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