Reimbursement of Travel and Subsistence Expenses toward Living Organ Donation | HRSA 19 047

Opportunity Information: Apply for HRSA 19 047

The Reimbursement of Travel and Subsistence Expenses toward Living Organ Donation Program (HRSA 19-047) is a federal grant opportunity from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). Offered as a discretionary cooperative agreement under CFDA 93.134, the FY 2019 competition was designed to support a single awardee that would operate a national reimbursement program helping living organ donors afford the practical, non-medical costs of donating an organ in the United States. The application window opened November 16, 2018, and closed February 15, 2019.

At its core, the program focuses on reimbursing travel and subsistence expenses for living organ donors, and it also allows reimbursement for up to two relatives or other individuals who accompany the donor. The travel supported is tied directly to the donation process, including trips for the donor evaluation, the actual organ donation procedure, and follow-up visit(s) after donation. While the authorizing law gives HHS the ability to expand allowable reimbursements to certain other incidental non-medical expenses through regulation, this specific funding notice makes clear that, for this cycle, the award is authorized to reimburse travel and subsistence expenses only. Even so, applicants were expected to explain how they would implement reimbursement for additional incidental expenses (for example, lost wages) if HHS later authorized those categories through regulation, meaning proposals needed to show operational readiness and a scalable approach rather than a travel-only plan with no capacity to expand.

The opportunity draws a firm boundary around what it will not pay for. Funds cannot be used to reimburse expenses related to blood, marrow, or tissue donation. In other words, the scope is living organ donation and the associated eligible travel and subsistence costs, not other forms of donation that might involve similar logistics.

A major compliance feature of the program is that it is intended to be payer-of-last-resort for these qualified expenses. The award recipient is prohibited from using grant funds to reimburse a living donor when those same qualified expenses were already paid, or can reasonably be expected to be paid, by another source. The notice lists the key disallowed payment sources: reimbursement or payment by the organ recipient, coverage under a state or federal program or an insurance policy, or payment by an entity that provides health services on a prepaid basis. Practically, that means the program must have clear eligibility screening and documentation processes to avoid duplicate payment, and must be able to determine when other coverage exists or is likely to exist.

Equity and financial need are explicitly built into the program requirements. The authorizing statute requires the award recipient to provide preference to living donors who would be most likely unable to afford the allowable, qualified expenses associated with donation. That preference shapes how the reimbursement program is expected to prioritize applicants, structure its intake and verification steps, and communicate with transplant centers and donors so that limited funds are directed toward people for whom out-of-pocket travel and lodging costs could be a real barrier to donation.

Administratively, the grant is structured as a cooperative agreement, which typically means HRSA expects substantial involvement in program oversight compared to a standard grant. Although the public summary data lists an award ceiling of 0 (often a placeholder in extracted listings rather than a statement that no funds are available), the opportunity clearly anticipates one funded recipient to run the reimbursement effort nationally. Eligibility is summarized as "Others (see text)" in the listing, suggesting HRSA limited eligibility to certain organization types described in the full announcement, but the essential point for applicants is that the selected organization would be responsible for building and administering the end-to-end reimbursement system, including donor and companion eligibility checks, expense verification, payment processing, prevention of duplicate reimbursement, and prioritization rules focused on donors with the greatest financial need.

• The Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Reimbursement of Travel and Subsistence Expenses toward Living Organ Donation" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.134.
• This funding opportunity was created on Nov 16, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Feb 15, 2019. (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 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for HRSA 19 047

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