HHS releases $33 million in stimulus funds to train health professionals
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has awarded $33 million to expand the training of healthcare professionals.
The funds, announced on Friday, are part of $500 million allotted to HHS' Health Resources and Services Administration to address workforce shortages under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
"President Obama is committed to passing health insurance reform and we're closer to reform than ever before," Sebelius said. "The Recovery Act will help ensure we grow our healthcare workforce and give our aspiring doctors, nurses and health professionals the tools and training they need to provide top-quality care to more Americans."
HRSA Administrator Mary Wakefield said the agency has moved quickly to distribute most of $2.5 billion slated for the agency under ARRA. "These funds are helping us rebuild the infrastructure needed to produce more skilled health professionals, and they are expanding essential primary care services to hundreds of thousands of additional Americans through our health center system," she said.
The HHS grants will be distributed through six HRSA programs, according to Wakefield, and include $19.3 million for scholarships for disadvantaged students going into health professions schools and training programs.
The Centers of Excellence will receive $4.9 million to fund health professions schools to establish or expand programs for minority individuals.
Public health traineeships will receive $3 million to fund schools of public health, and $2.6 million is slated for programs to increase nursing education, with $2.5 million for scholarships to help disadvantaged students train for health careers. The dental public health residency training program is slated to receive $810,925 in ARRA funding.
Friday's grants follow an Aug. 12 announcement by HHS Deputy Secretary Bill Corr of $13.4 million in ARRA funds for loan repayments to nurses who agree to practice in facilities with critical shortages and for schools of nursing to provide loans to students who will become nurse faculty members.
To date, HHS has announced the availability of nearly $200 million in ARRA workforce funds, of a total of $300 million, to expand HRSA's National Health Service Corps. The funds will pay for student loan repayments for primary care medical dental and mental health clinicians who wish to practice, for a minimum of two years, in NHSC sites that treat underserved and uninsured people.
In addition, HRSA received $2 billion through ARRA to expand healthcare services to low-income and uninsured individuals through its health center program. To date, more than $1.3 billion of these funds have been awarded to community-based organizations across the country. HRSA-supported health centers treated 17 million patients in 2008, 40 percent of whom have no health insurance.
