Funding Opportunity Number: HRSA-25-069
Top 5 Questions
Additional Questions
Top 5 questions
1. What costs can be included in the 50% minimum of budget that goes to the stipend?
The stipend is the amount you pay directly to each fellow. The maximum per full-time fellow is $110,000, but award recipients may choose to provide lower stipends, or may provide higher stipend amounts by including funds from other non-federal sources, which must be identified in the application. Health insurance and other allowable costs in support of the fellow are included in administrative and program support costs.
2. What is required for the community-based rotation in an underserved community?
Programs must provide HRSA-funded fellows with at least one rotation in a medically underserved, community-based setting. Programs must provide a rural rotation as determined by the Rural Health Grants Eligibility Analyzer. Programs may provide one or more rotations in community-based, underserved sites as long as at least one is in a rural community. If existing rotations meet the criteria specified in the NOFO, the award recipient does not have to create additional rotations.
3. Are multiple applications allowed? Is it possible for fellowships (Addiction Medicine and Addiction Psychiatry) to submit collaborative applications in partnership?
No. HRSA doesn’t allow multiple applications from a single institution. If an institution has both an addiction medicine and an addiction psychiatry program, you can apply as a collaborative program if you meet eligibility requirements and can provide appropriate resources to both programs.
4. What qualifies as an expansion?
Expansion is training fellows and growing the Addiction Medicine workforce. You may expand the workforce by increasing the number of trainees per year or using HRSA funds to maintain a slot that had external funding due to expire and would go unfilled. You may NOT use HRSA funds to fund a fellowship slot that has been supported by your institution up to this time. Expansion does not require an increase in positions approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). The expansion should occur in the first six months of the grant’s period of performance.
5. Can a program apply if their application for ACGME accreditation is still pending?
No. The applicant organization must provide proof of ACGME or American College of Academic Addiction Medicine (ACAAM) accreditation at the time of application. The funding opportunity has details on required documents for accreditation.
Additional questions
Will we know about funding for each year before we are in the interview cycle?
The timing of annual appropriations is determined by Congress and may vary year to year.
Is it possible to ramp up the number of fellows that the program trains over the course of the 5 years?
You may increase the size of your fellowship over the period of performance as accreditation and your institution allow. Grant funding from HRSA, however, cannot increase above the amount awarded in the first year.
Do you require Letters of Support or Letters of Agreement for this grant application?
We do not require Letters of Support or Letters of Agreement. See page 29 of the funding opportunity. You may provide a shortened version of letters or a list of letters rather than full letters of support as needed to remain within the page limit of the application.
Can you apply for more than one funding priority and/or funding preference?
Yes. You may apply for both a funding priority and a funding preference. You may apply for only one priority and one preference and should clearly indicate in the application which you are applying for.
What defines whether a site is community-based?
A community-based setting is an organization centered in and around a particular community. They are designed to reach people outside of traditional health care settings such as hospitals. This includes, but is not limited to, a teaching health center or a federally qualified health center.
How long does the community-based rotation need to be?
The length of the rotation is at the program’s discretion but should be consistent with other rotations offered.
What are the requirements that programs need to provide training on working with legal-aid or medical-legal partnerships and on stigma?
HRSA does not require any specific content or length for training of fellows on working with legal-aid or medical-legal partnerships or on stigma. The training may be experiential, didactic, or both and should be described in the narrative section of the application. Programs should provide at least one community education event that includes explicit anti-stigma training.
Is there a requirement that programs provide rotations that place fellows and residents together?
Yes. Every fellow should have an opportunity to interact with one or more medical residents from any specialty. The requirement aims to prepare fellows to teach and consult throughout their careers, as well as to recruit medical residents to the specialty of Addiction Medicine. Residents may be from the grantee's home institution or from other institutions.
If an attachment is not applicable, should we skip that number in the attachment section or renumber the attachments?
Don't include an attachment that is not applicable to your application.
Note: Attachments count towards the page limit. Don't renumber the attachments. Submit attachments with the same numbers as the NOFO states. Attachments 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, and 9 are required of all applicants.
What Executive Level II Salary Cap should we use?
You should use the salary cap for the current calendar year. The 2025 Level II Federal Executive Pay cap is $225,700.
What is Maintenance of Effort (MOE) and is it required?
Applicants are required to include the MOE form in the application. The recipient must agree to maintain non-federal funding for award activities at a level that is not less than expenditures for such activities during the fiscal year prior to the fiscal year for which the recipient receives the award, as required by PHS Act section 797(b). Complete the MOE information and submit as Attachment 5.
The underlying principle is to ensure that federal award recipients maintain the same level of support already being provided (and as described in their application) after receipt of a federal grant award. The MOE intent is to ensure federal funds supplement rather than replace normal activities.
We anticipate partnering with multiple training sites. Should we list all these training sites within Attachment 9, or only select a few sites to highlight?
Yes. List all the partnering sites in the table provided in Attachment 9.
Can you clarify what to include in the project narrative for "high-level work plan" versus what is in the Standardized Work Plan (SWP)?
The SWP is a highly structured document organized by objectives, subobjectives, activities and milestones. The narrative provides you with an opportunity to describe the work plan in a narrative format. There is likely to be overlap in content between the two sections, and you may cross-reference as you see fit to minimize any redundancy.
In the Merit Review section of the document, it states that there are 20 points available for the ‘Impact’ criterion which includes the Performance Reporting and Evaluation section (15 points) and the Sustainability section (5 points). It also states that there are 20 points available for the ‘Resources and Capabilities’ criterion which includes the Organizational Information and Performance Reporting and Evaluation sections. Is the Performance Reporting and Evaluation section part of the scoring for both the ‘Impact’ and ‘Resources and Capabilities’ criterions?
The part of Performance Reporting and Evaluation that is captured in the Impact section focuses on your methods and plan for evaluation and reporting. The Resources and Capabilities section focuses on sufficiency of staff, resources, and expertise to conduct the evaluation and reporting.
What can be budgeted under the administration and program management portion of the award?
Under Administration and Program Management, the funding opportunity allows:
- Project faculty and staff salaries and fringe
- Faculty development
- Conferences
- Travel related expenses
- Indirect costs
- Other program support costs
Participant/Trainee Support Costs fall under Administration and Program Management. For application budgets with participant/trainee support costs (other than stipends), list tuition/fees/health insurance, travel, subsistence, other, and the number of fellows. Ensure that your budget breakdown separates these fellows’ costs and includes a separate sub-total entitled “Participant/Trainee Support Costs.” These costs can also include support for travel and lodging, as you deem necessary and reasonable, for away rotations.
What are the requirements for the Project Director?
The Project Director should be the person who will be responsible for management of the grant. The Project Director does not have to be the AMF Program Director, but it does have to be someone board-certified in Addiction Medicine or Addiction Psychiatry who will be devoting 20% or more of his/her time to the project. The Project Director may be part-time but must be an employee of the applicant institution.
Are J-1 and H-1B fellows eligible for HRSA funding?
No. Only U.S. citizens or non-citizen nationals, permanent residents, or other “qualified alien” under section 431(b) of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, Pub. L. 104-193, as amended may receive stipend support. Funded programs may train fellows on temporary visas so long as the individual fellow does not receive stipend support.