Opportunity Information: Apply for HRSA 17 047
The HRSA funding opportunity "Curing Hepatitis C among People of Color Living with HIV" (HRSA-17-047) is a FY 2017 Secretarys Minority AIDS Initiative Fund (SMAIF) cooperative agreement designed to reduce hepatitis C (HCV) illness and ongoing transmission among people of color living with HIV, especially in communities where HIV/HCV coinfection is concentrated among low-income, underinsured, or uninsured groups. HRSA planned to support up to two recipients to build stronger local systems that move people smoothly from prevention and testing to care, treatment, and ultimately cure, while also addressing the behavioral health and substance use needs that often make HCV treatment harder to start and finish. The overall aim is not just individual patient outcomes, but a sustainable, area-wide approach that improves how clinics, community providers, and health departments work together to find people with coinfection, get them into care, and keep them engaged.
The initiative is intentionally multi-pronged. It focuses on expanding HCV prevention education, testing, and clinical capacity within settings that commonly serve people of color with HIV, including Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP)-funded clinics, HRSA- and Medicare-certified Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), and SAMHSA-funded community-based substance use disorder (SUD) and behavioral health treatment providers. A central expectation is improved coordination of linkage to and retention in HIV/HCV care, along with closer coordination with SUD providers so that people can get the behavioral health and substance use supports that help them complete HCV treatment and reduce the risk of reinfection. Another major pillar is public health surveillance: recipients are expected to work with state, local, or tribal health departments to strengthen HCV surveillance for people living with HIV and to establish an "HCV Data to Care" capability, similar to HIV Data to Care, where surveillance data are used to identify diagnosed individuals who are out of care and actively link them back to treatment services.
Applicants have to show clear need and access. They must provide evidence that HIV/HCV coinfection affects low-income, underinsured, or uninsured racial and ethnic minority populations in their target area, and they must demonstrate the ability to reach people living with HIV who are living with HCV or are at risk of acquiring it. The opportunity highlights priority populations with high HCV prevalence among people with HIV, including people who use drugs (PWUD), especially people who inject drugs (PWID), men who have sex with men (MSM), high-risk heterosexual populations, and transgender people. The emphasis on these groups reflects a practical public health strategy: targeting outreach, testing, and treatment support where both clinical burden and transmission risk are highest.
The project is structured as a three-year effort with a heavy planning front end. During year one, recipients are expected to conduct a planning and development phase and produce a detailed implementation plan tailored to local conditions. That plan should coordinate multiple strategies to increase the number of people in the service area who are screened, diagnosed, linked to care, treated, and cured of HCV. Years two and three are primarily implementation years, where the recipient puts the plan into action, expands capacity across partner sites, and demonstrates measurable improvements in HCV-related outcomes among people living with HIV, with a strong equity focus on people of color.
A key operating model is that the main recipient serves as a hub that builds capacity through partnerships and annual subawards. Recipients are expected to partner with clinical sites and provide subawards to help those clinics improve their ability to manage HIV/HCV coinfection. Capacity-building areas include delivering HIV/HCV care and treatment consistent with HHS guidelines, providing adherence support, ensuring access to the lab testing and clinical staging needed for HCV management (including referrals for liver biopsy or other staging procedures when appropriate), and delivering patient-facing prevention education about HCV infection and reinfection. Subrecipient clinics are also expected to do targeted outreach to people who are out of care, conduct contact tracing as appropriate, and form multidisciplinary HIV/HCV teams. The notice points to practical collaboration methods such as shared trainings, case conferences, and coordinated use of out-of-care lists to systematically re-engage patients.
The program also draws a clear boundary around what federal grant funds can and cannot pay for: funds may not be used to purchase HCV medications. Because direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) are central to curing HCV, the opportunity requires that participating providers already have viable pathways to obtain DAAs through other payors or funding mechanisms. In other words, the grant is meant to strengthen infrastructure, coordination, workforce capacity, and supportive services, rather than replace insurance coverage or medication financing.
Because substance use and mental health conditions can be major barriers to starting and completing HCV treatment, recipients must also build strong connections to SUD and mental health providers in the communities served by each clinical site, including through subawards when helpful. The required activities include creating partnerships that support integrated care and bidirectional referrals, linking clinic patients who screen positive for SUD into treatment services, and linking people in SUD or mental health programs who have HIV/HCV and are out of care back into HIV/HCV clinical care. The program also expects practical harm reduction and safety interventions to prevent overdose and reinfection, including referrals to syringe services programs (SSPs) where available, and referrals to community education efforts that explain the benefits of medication-assisted treatment (MAT) and SSPs. The design reflects a full continuum approach: curing HCV is the immediate clinical goal, but preventing reinfection and stabilizing behavioral health needs are necessary to make cure durable at the community level.
Workforce development and provider training are built into the award. Recipients are expected to deliver training to HCV care providers at participating clinical sites using curricula and competency frameworks developed by the AIDS Education Training Center (AETC) National Coordinating Resource Center. They are also expected to collaborate with their Regional AETC and, if applicable, their Local Performance Site (LPS). The intent is practice transformation, not one-off trainings, meaning clinics should strengthen workflows, clinical confidence, and team-based care models that make HIV/HCV coinfection treatment routine and scalable.
Surveillance and data use are treated as core infrastructure, not an add-on. Recipients must partner with health departments to improve monitoring of acute and chronic HIV/HCV coinfections in areas with large racial and ethnic minority populations. Enhanced systems should support using surveillance data to identify HCV-diagnosed people living with HIV who are not in care and link them directly to services, mirroring established HIV Data to Care strategies. Health departments are also expected to facilitate collection of HCV-related data required by the initiative, reinforcing that evaluation and accountability are central to the cooperative agreement model.
Finally, the opportunity is built around measurement, evaluation, and dissemination. Recipients must work closely with a HRSA-funded technical assistance and evaluation team and are required to collect and report data on knowledge levels among (1) HIV/HCV coinfected patients regarding HCV treatment and (2) health care providers regarding HCV screening and treatment. If these data were previously collected, applicants should report results; otherwise, they must conduct rapid assessments using existing instruments from the evaluation team. Those instruments must be submitted to an Institutional Review Board (IRB) within two months of award, and both assessments must be completed within the first nine months of year one so gaps can inform patient education and provider training strategies. By year three, recipients collaborate on a project monograph and other dissemination products that capture outcomes, best practices, and lessons learned.
By the end of the three-year period, recipients are expected to have built comprehensive, area-wide systems that improve HCV screening, linkage, treatment uptake, cure rates, and prevention of reinfection among people living with HIV and HCV, particularly people of color. Just as important, the program expects sustainability: recipients and partners should integrate these screening, care, and treatment approaches into ongoing clinical operations, program planning, and administrative and fiscal structures so the improvements continue after the grant ends.Apply for HRSA 17 047
- The Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Curing Hepatitis C among People of Color Living with HIV" and is now available to receive applicants.
- Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.928.
- This funding opportunity was created on Jun 14, 2017.
- Applicants must submit their applications by Jul 28, 2017. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
- The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 2 candidate(s).
- Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is the purpose of the HRSA "Curing Hepatitis C among People of Color Living with HIV" opportunity (HRSA-17-047)?
This FY 2017 Secretarys Minority AIDS Initiative Fund (SMAIF) cooperative agreement is designed to reduce hepatitis C (HCV) illness and ongoing transmission among people of color living with HIV. The focus is on communities where HIV/HCV coinfection is concentrated among low-income, underinsured, or uninsured populations. The program aims to build sustainable, area-wide systems that improve prevention, testing, linkage to care, treatment, cure, and long-term engagement across clinics, community providers, and health departments.
Is the goal only to improve outcomes for individual patients?
No. While improving treatment and cure outcomes for individuals is central, the broader aim is to create durable, local systems that consistently identify people with HIV/HCV coinfection, link them into care, support them through treatment, and reduce reinfection risk across an entire service area.
How many awards did HRSA plan to make under this opportunity?
HRSA planned to support up to two recipients.
How long is the project period?
The project is structured as a three-year effort.
What happens in year one versus years two and three?
Year one is a planning and development phase. Recipients are expected to conduct planning activities and produce a detailed implementation plan tailored to local conditions, coordinating multiple strategies to increase screening, diagnosis, linkage, treatment, and cure.
Years two and three are primarily implementation years, when recipients put the plan into action, expand capacity across partner sites, and demonstrate measurable improvements in HCV-related outcomes among people living with HIV, with a strong equity focus on people of color.
What kinds of organizations and settings are emphasized for expansion of services?
The initiative emphasizes settings that commonly serve people of color with HIV, including Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP)-funded clinics, HRSA- and Medicare-certified Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), and SAMHSA-funded community-based substance use disorder (SUD) and behavioral health treatment providers.
Who are the priority populations highlighted in the opportunity?
The opportunity highlights priority populations with high HCV prevalence among people with HIV, including people who use drugs (PWUD), especially people who inject drugs (PWID), men who have sex with men (MSM), high-risk heterosexual populations, and transgender people.
What need must applicants demonstrate to be competitive?
Applicants must provide evidence that HIV/HCV coinfection affects low-income, underinsured, or uninsured racial and ethnic minority populations in the target area. They must also demonstrate the ability to reach people living with HIV who are living with HCV or are at risk of acquiring HCV.
What does "moving people smoothly from prevention and testing to care, treatment, and cure" mean in practice?
It means strengthening local systems so people can move from HCV prevention education and testing to diagnosis, linkage to clinical care, treatment initiation, adherence support through completion, cure, and continued prevention support to reduce reinfection. The program expects improved coordination among clinics, community providers, and health departments to reduce gaps and drop-offs along that continuum.
What is the expected operating model for the recipient?
The main recipient is expected to function as a hub that builds capacity through partnerships and annual subawards. This includes supporting clinical sites to improve their ability to manage HIV/HCV coinfection and coordinating activities across partners.
Are subawards required, and what are they intended to support?
The opportunity describes annual subawards as a central mechanism for capacity building. Subawards are intended to help partner clinics strengthen HIV/HCV coinfection care and related infrastructure, including care delivery improvements, adherence supports, and prevention education.
What types of capacity-building activities are expected at subrecipient clinical sites?
Expected capacity-building areas include delivering HIV/HCV care and treatment consistent with HHS guidelines, providing adherence support, ensuring access to lab testing and clinical staging needed for HCV management (including referral for liver biopsy or other staging procedures when appropriate), and providing prevention education about HCV infection and reinfection.
What outreach and re-engagement activities are subrecipient clinics expected to conduct?
Subrecipient clinics are expected to conduct targeted outreach to people who are out of care, use approaches such as out-of-care lists to systematically re-engage patients, conduct contact tracing as appropriate, and form multidisciplinary HIV/HCV teams to support coordinated care.
What collaboration methods are specifically encouraged across partners?
Practical collaboration methods noted include shared trainings, case conferences, and coordinated use of out-of-care lists to help re-engage patients and align clinical and supportive services.
Can grant funds be used to purchase hepatitis C medications?
No. Federal grant funds under this opportunity may not be used to purchase HCV medications.
If medications cannot be purchased with grant funds, how is HCV cure expected to be achieved?
Because direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) are central to curing HCV, participating providers are expected to already have viable pathways to obtain DAAs through other payors or funding mechanisms. The grant is intended to strengthen infrastructure, coordination, workforce capacity, and supportive services rather than replace insurance coverage or medication financing.
Why does the opportunity place strong emphasis on substance use disorder and behavioral health connections?
Substance use and mental health conditions can be major barriers to starting and completing HCV treatment. The program requires strong connections to SUD and mental health providers so patients can access supports that help them initiate treatment, stay engaged, complete therapy, and reduce the risk of reinfection.
What are the required activities related to SUD and mental health partnerships?
Required activities include creating partnerships that support integrated care and bidirectional referrals, linking clinic patients who screen positive for SUD into treatment services, and linking people in SUD or mental health programs who have HIV/HCV and are out of care back into HIV/HCV clinical care.
Does the opportunity include harm reduction and safety interventions?
Yes. The program expects practical harm reduction and safety interventions to prevent overdose and reinfection, including referrals to syringe services programs (SSPs) where available and referrals to community education efforts on the benefits of medication-assisted treatment (MAT) and SSPs.
What training and workforce development requirements are included?
Recipients are expected to deliver training to HCV care providers at participating clinical sites using curricula and competency frameworks developed by the AIDS Education Training Center (AETC) National Coordinating Resource Center. Recipients are also expected to collaborate with their Regional AETC and, if applicable, their Local Performance Site (LPS). The intent is practice transformation and strengthening routine, scalable HIV/HCV coinfection treatment workflows.
What is meant by strengthening public health surveillance as part of this award?
Recipients must partner with state, local, or tribal health departments to strengthen HCV surveillance for people living with HIV, including monitoring acute and chronic HIV/HCV coinfections in areas with large racial and ethnic minority populations. Surveillance is treated as core infrastructure supporting identification of people who are diagnosed but not in care.
What is "HCV Data to Care" in this program?
"HCV Data to Care" refers to establishing a capability similar to HIV Data to Care, where surveillance data are used to identify HCV-diagnosed individuals who are out of care and actively link them back to treatment services.
How are health departments expected to support the project?
Health departments are expected to partner with recipients to improve surveillance, facilitate use of surveillance data to identify and link out-of-care individuals to services, and support collection of HCV-related data required by the initiative.
What evaluation and reporting expectations are included?
Recipients must work closely with a HRSA-funded technical assistance and evaluation team. They are required to collect and report data on knowledge levels among (1) HIV/HCV coinfected patients regarding HCV treatment and (2) health care providers regarding HCV screening and treatment.
If an applicant has already collected knowledge assessment data, what is expected?
If these data were previously collected, applicants should report the results. If not, they must conduct rapid assessments using existing instruments provided by the evaluation team.
Are there timelines for IRB review and completing the required assessments?
Yes. The required assessment instruments must be submitted to an Institutional Review Board (IRB) within two months of award, and both assessments must be completed within the first nine months of year one so identified gaps can inform patient education and provider training strategies.
What dissemination products are expected by the end of the project?
By year three, recipients collaborate on a project monograph and other dissemination products that document outcomes, best practices, and lessons learned.
What does sustainability mean in the context of this opportunity?
Sustainability means integrating improved HCV screening, linkage, care, treatment support, and reinfection prevention approaches into ongoing clinical operations, program planning, and administrative and fiscal structures so the improvements continue after the grant ends.
What outcomes are expected by the end of the three-year period?
By the end of the project, recipients are expected to have built comprehensive, area-wide systems that improve HCV screening, linkage to care, treatment uptake, cure rates, and prevention of reinfection among people living with HIV and HCV, particularly people of color.
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