[NYAPRS Enews] HHS Announces Recovery Act Funding to Expand Health Professions Training

[Matt Canuteson]

Secretary Sebelius Makes Recovery Act Funding Available to Expand Health
Professions Training

July 29, 2009

Contact: HRSA Press Office: (301) 443-3376

http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2009pres/07/20090728c.html

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced the availability of $200
million to support grants, loans, loan repayment, and scholarships to
expand the training of health care professionals. The funds are expected
to train approximately 8,000 students and credentialed health
professionals by the end of fiscal year 2010. 

Today's funds are part of the $500 million allotted to HHS' Health
Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), to address workforce
shortages under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). 

"Health care reform cannot happen without an adequate supply of
well-trained, well-distributed providers," said Secretary Sebelius.
"These ARRA funds provide targeted investments in primary care, nursing,
faculty development, and equipment purchases that will shore up the
workforce as we prepare for reform." 

"Our health professions programs have been significantly underfunded
these past few years," said Mary Wakefield, Ph.D., R.N., administrator
of the Health Resources and Services Administration. "These funds will
help us begin to rebuild the infrastructure that is so essential to
producing the number of skilled health professionals the Nation needs." 

 

The $200 Million Will Be Directed To The Following Program Areas:

*         $80.2 million for scholarships, loans, and loan repayment
awards to students, health professionals, and faculty. Of those funds,
$39 million will be targeted to nurses and nurse faculty, $40 million to
disadvantaged students in a wide range of health professions, and $1.2
million to health professions faculty from disadvantaged backgrounds. 

*	$50 million in grants to health professions training programs.
Funds will be used to purchase equipment needed to expand programs and
improve the quality of training. 
*	$47.6 million to support primary care training programs. These
funds will support the training of residents, medical students,
physician assistants, dentists and individuals, many of whom will
practice in underserved areas. 
*	$10.5 million to strengthen the public health workforce. Funds
will support public health traineeships and increase the number of
individuals trained through preventive medicine and dental public health
residencies. 

*	$10.2 million to increase the diversity of the health
professions workforce. 
*	And $1.5 million to support the efforts of state professional
licensing boards in reducing barrier to telemedicine. 

HRSA is using a competitive process to award all funds. Some awards will
be made over the next several months. In addition, funding opportunities
for some programs will be announced over the next several months, giving
applicants adequate time to prepare materials. 

The remaining $300 million in ARRA workforce funds is being used to
expand HRSA's National Health Service Corps, which provides scholarships
and loan repayment for primary care providers who serve in health
professional shortage areas. In addition, HRSA received $2 billion
through ARRA to expand health care services to low-income and uninsured
individuals through its health center program. 

 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://kilakwa.net/pipermail/nyaprs_kilakwa.net/attachments/20090730/7570c4d5/attachment.html>