Using GrantCraft to Prepare a Health Services Grant Proposal

Health Services Grants: A Critical Funding Category

Health services grants fund programs that improve access to healthcare, reduce health disparities, and strengthen community health infrastructure. Major funders include the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state health departments, and private health foundations. These grants support everything from community health worker programs and maternal health initiatives to substance abuse treatment and chronic disease management.

The GrantCraft Proposal Builder provides an excellent framework for developing health services proposals because the builder's eight-step structure aligns naturally with the standard components that health funders require. This guide shows you how to use each step specifically for health services applications.

Step 1: Organizational Profile for Health Services

When completing Step 1 of the builder, health services applicants should emphasize their health-related qualifications. If your organization is a Federally Qualified Health Center, a community health organization, or a public health agency, state this clearly. If you are a non-health organization proposing a health-related project, explain your connection to health through your mission, your population, or your existing partnerships with health providers.

Include any relevant designations, accreditations, or certifications. A community health center with PCMH recognition, a behavioral health organization with CARF accreditation, or a nonprofit with a community health worker training program all have credentialing that strengthens their health services proposals.

Step 2: Building a Health-Focused Need Statement

Health needs statements require specific types of data that differ from other grant categories. Step 2 of the builder prompts you to describe the problem with supporting evidence. For health services, your data should come from authoritative health sources:

• County Health Rankings: Provides county-level data on health outcomes and health factors.
• CDC WONDER database: Offers detailed mortality and morbidity data.
• Community Health Needs Assessments: Required of nonprofit hospitals, these assessments provide local health data and identified priorities.
• Health Professional Shortage Area designations: Demonstrates provider shortages in your service area.
• Medically Underserved Area/Population designations: Documents barriers to healthcare access.
• State health department data: Provides disease prevalence, behavioral risk factors, and vital statistics at the state and county level.

Structure your health need statement around three components: disease or condition burden, access barriers, and disparities. Show that the health problem is severe, that the target population faces barriers to getting the care they need, and that health disparities exist based on race, income, geography, or other factors. For detailed guidance on constructing need statements, see our resource on defining the grant problem and need statement.

Step 3: Health Outcomes Objectives

Health services objectives must use the language and frameworks of public health measurement. Step 3 of the builder helps you write SMART objectives. For health proposals, objectives typically fall into three categories:

Access Objectives

These measure whether more people receive care. Example: "Increase the number of uninsured adults receiving primary care services at Community Health Center X from 1,200 to 1,800 per year within 24 months."

Quality Objectives

These measure whether care quality improves. Example: "Increase the percentage of diabetic patients with controlled HbA1c levels below 9 percent from 55 percent to 70 percent within 18 months."

Health Outcome Objectives

These measure whether population health improves. Example: "Reduce the rate of low-birth-weight deliveries among program participants from 12 percent to 8 percent within three years."

Many health funders also require process objectives that measure implementation milestones. Example: "Recruit and train 10 community health workers within the first six months of the project period."

Step 4: Evidence-Based Health Interventions

Health services funders place tremendous emphasis on evidence-based interventions. Step 4 of the builder asks you to describe your program design. For health proposals, you must reference the evidence base for your approach and explain why your chosen intervention is appropriate for your target population and setting.

Cite relevant sources of evidence such as the Community Guide, the Cochrane Library, the SAMHSA Evidence-Based Practices Resource Center, or peer-reviewed literature. If you are implementing a specific model, such as the Chronic Care Model for disease management or the Centering Pregnancy model for prenatal care, describe the model and cite the research supporting its effectiveness.

If your approach is innovative rather than evidence-based, be transparent about this. Explain the theoretical basis for your approach, describe any pilot data that supports it, and explain how your evaluation will contribute to the evidence base.

Step 5: Health Services Budget

Health services budgets often include clinical personnel such as physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, and community health workers, as well as medical supplies, equipment, electronic health record systems, and professional development for clinical staff. Step 5 of the builder helps you organize these costs.

For HRSA-funded health centers, budgets must comply with specific requirements including a focus on expanding access rather than replacing existing revenue. For CDC cooperative agreements, budgets must align with specific strategies outlined in the funding announcement. Always cross-reference your budget with the funder's specific cost guidelines.

Step 6: Health Services Evaluation

Health services evaluation requires specific attention to clinical quality measures, patient outcomes, and process metrics. Step 6 of the builder guides your evaluation plan. For health proposals, reference standard measurement frameworks such as HEDIS measures for managed care quality, UDS measures for health centers, or CDC evaluation frameworks for public health programs.

Describe your data sources carefully. Electronic health records, patient registries, claims data, and patient surveys each have strengths and limitations. Your evaluation plan should specify which data source you will use for each measure and explain how you will ensure data quality and privacy compliance. For detailed evaluation guidance, see our resource on evaluation methods and implementation science.

Step 7: Demonstrating Health Services Capacity

In Step 7, describe your organization's clinical infrastructure, provider credentials, referral networks, and health information technology systems. Health funders evaluate capacity through a clinical lens, looking for evidence that you can deliver quality care, maintain patient privacy, and comply with health regulations.

If your organization is applying for its first health services grant, emphasize partnerships with established health organizations. A memorandum of understanding with a local health system, a referral agreement with specialists, or a data-sharing agreement with the health department strengthens your capacity narrative significantly.

Health Services Proposal Checklist

• Document health need using County Health Rankings, CHNA data, and HPSA/MUA designations.
• Frame the need around disease burden, access barriers, and health disparities.
• Write objectives that address access, quality, and health outcomes.
• Reference evidence-based interventions with citations from authoritative sources.
• Budget for clinical personnel, medical supplies, and health IT systems.
• Design an evaluation plan using standard health quality measures.
• Demonstrate clinical infrastructure and provider qualifications.
• Use the Proposal Builder to ensure all sections are complete and aligned.

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