NETECH Rural Health Catalyst Fund. Company Application, Cohort 1.
Administered on behalf of the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)
NETECH is a single competitive, non-dilutive, milestone-based grant program aligned to the CMS Rural Health Transformation Rural Tech Catalyst Fund Resource Guide. Complete all sections; incomplete applications may not be considered. Responses are reviewed through a competitive and transparent evaluation process. Attach the Budget & Milestone Workbook and the supplemental materials listed in Section 11. Mark any question that does not apply "N/A" and briefly explain.
Submit the complete application by November 9, 2026.
Gather these materials first.
The Budget & Milestone Workbook is required and is uploaded in Section 7. You will also upload a pitch deck, financial statements and projections, a capitalization table where applicable, and supporting clinical or outcomes evidence in Section 11.
PDF for reference only. Applications are submitted online.
The form saves your progress as you go. If you leave before submitting, return to this page on the same device and browser and your answers will be restored. Progress is not saved in a private browsing window, and clearing your browser data clears it.
- Award type
- Competitive, non-dilutive, contingent milestone-based grant (no equity or ownership taken).
- Target award size
- Initial target awards of $250,000 to $1,000,000.
- Payment structure
- Kickoff payment at award execution (20% of total); the balance is earned through a standardized schedule of at least three sequential milestones, at least one of which is outcome-based. Cohort 1 payments: 20% at kickoff, 20% after completion of Milestone 1, 25% after completion of Milestone 2, and 35% after completion of Milestone 3. The same milestone timeline and payment structure applies to every Cohort 1 awardee.
- Performance period
- All Cohort 1 funds must be expended, with all milestone payments completed, by September 30, 2027. Projects extending beyond that date will not be considered.
- Program focus
Funded solutions must:
- (1) serve rural communities, with a focus on or special consideration for their particular needs and challenges;
- (2) benefit Medicaid, low-income, and/or vulnerable rural consumers;
- (3) focus on prevention and management of chronic diseases;
- (4) be significantly different from, or fulfill an unmet need compared to, the existing landscape of products and solutions; and
- (5) increase quality, affordability, and access to care.
- Novelty
A New Capability: A breakthrough approach that creates a new way to enable care in rural communities. This is often achieved by combining existing technologies in a new way, adapting technology from other industries that haven't been applied in healthcare, or building fundamentally new technology with rural communities in mind.
A New Delivery Model: A solution that changes how or where care is delivered to solve for rural realities such as patient travel distance and limited access to specialists.
Market-Defying: A solution that addresses a critical unmet need that the private market has not met due to low population density, low profitability, or hesitation to design solutions for the rural infrastructure environment.
A Bridge to Commercial Viability: A seed-stage innovation that, with RTCF funding, has a clear and realistic path to becoming a self-sustaining product that can be deployed in the real world.
- Product stage
- Proof of Concept through Minimum Viable Product: a functional prototype exists, feasibility has been demonstrated, Technology Readiness Level (TRL) is 4 or higher, and the product is not yet fully commercialized.
- Entity
- Prioritization given to Nebraska based companies; application open to all U.S.-based and U.S.-owned entities (company, nonprofit, academic institution, or government entity). The applicant must have been founded/established less than 10 years ago and raised less than $50 million in prior funding since founding.
- Milestones
Milestone payments are triggered by achieving pre-defined, observable processes and outcomes, not by the passage of time or submission of routine reports.
Milestones track activities significant to the progress towards achievement of the program focus (the five rural health pillars above). They must be observable technical events or quantifiable outcomes.
A given program track should include a minimum of 3 milestones within a performance period, with at least one being an outcome-based milestone. Milestones are sequential.
- Application Scoring
Applications will be scored based on competitiveness of the items above, in addition to the following items addressed in the application:
- (1) Market size and competitive landscape
- (2) Technology differentiation and intellectual property
- (3) Management team capabilities
- (4) Product-market fit and commercial traction
- (5) Regulatory considerations
- (6) Financial projections and capital requirements
- (7) Adherence to state and local requirements
- (8) Project / technology sustainability in rural settings after award