HHS announces a record number of healthcare workforce awards in rural and underserved communities
The field strength includes more than 11,900 members working in behavioral health disciplines, including psychiatrists and psychiatric NPs.
Photo: FG Trade/Getty Images
The Biden Administration, through the Department of Health and Human Services, has awarded a historically high number of health workforce loan repayment and scholarship programs due to a new $1.5 billion investment, including $1 billion in supplemental American Rescue Plan funding and other mandatory and annual appropriations, HHS said this week.
More than 22,700 primary care clinicians now serve in underserved tribal, rural and urban communities, including nearly 20,000 National Health Service Corps (NHSC) members, more than 2,500 Nurse Corps nurses and about 250 awardees under a new program, the Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery Loan Repayment Program.
HHS' Health Resources and Services Administration oversees these programs.
According to the department, thousands of NHSC and Nurse Corps healthcare providers have served in community health centers and hospitals across the country during the pandemic, caring for COVID-19 patients, supporting the mental health of their communities, and administering coronavirus tests and treatments.
WHAT'S THE IMPACT?
HRSA's workforce programs are intended to improve health equity by connecting skilled providers with communities in need of care. National Health Service Corps, Nurse Corps, and Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery Loan Repayment Program members work in disciplines needed in underserved tribal, rural and urban communities, HHS said.
The "field strength," as the agency puts it, includes more than 11,900 members working in behavioral health disciplines, including psychiatrists, substance use disorder (SUD) counselors and psychiatric nurse practitioners.
Nurses represent the largest proportion of the field strength, numbering more than 8,000 across all scholarship and loan repayment programs. National Health Service Corps nurse practitioners make up its largest discipline at approximately 5,400.
Currently, one-third of HRSA's health workforce serves in a rural community where healthcare access may be especially limited, or require patients to travel long distances to receive treatment, said HHS. And more than half of all National Health Service Corps members serve in a community health center where patients are seen regardless of their ability to pay.
Through dedicated funding for substance use disorder professionals, HRSA is now supporting more than 4,500 providers treating opioid and other SUD issues in hard-hit communities. The Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery Loan Repayment Program was launched in FY 2021 to create loan repayment opportunities for several new disciplines that support HHS' response to the opioid crisis, including clinical support staff and allied health professionals.
In addition, this year's NHSC awards include 1,500 substance use disorder clinicians at approved treatment sites through the NHSC's Substance Use Disorder and Rural Community loan repayment programs.
HEALTHCARE WORKFORCE
The supplemental funding has also allowed HRSA to award almost 1,200 scholarships – a fourfold increase – in the National Health Service Corps, and nearly doubled the number of Nurse Corps scholarship awards to 544.
Additionally, new awards to 136 nurse faculty are supporting training for the future nursing workforce. This year's scholarship recipients join 2,500 current National Health Service Corps medical, dental and health professions students and residents – and about 900 current Nurse Corps scholars preparing to serve in high-need communities.
HRSA also recently awarded roughly $28.4 million in ARP funding to create new accredited teaching health center primary care residency programs in rural and underserved communities.
To further support the expansion of primary care, the administration plans to continue awarding the full $330 million in ARP funding for Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education in the coming months. The additional funding is intended to support the expansion of the primary care physician and dental workforce in underserved communities through community-based primary care residency programs in family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, internal medicine-pediatrics, psychiatry, obstetrics and gynecology, general dentistry, pediatric dentistry, and geriatrics.
They're based in the communities they serve, with 80% located in community-based health centers, such as Health Center Program-funded health centers, Health Center Program look-alikes, rural health clinics, community mental health centers and tribal health centers.
Additional American Rescue Plan-funded awards are planned, with the next application cycles for the National Health Service Corps and Nurse Corps loan repayment programs now accepting applications.
THE LARGER TREND
It's been a busy year for the HRSA, with the organization providing $424.7 million in funding to more than 4,200 rural health clinics for COVID-19 testing and mitigation earlier this year.
The goal, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said at the time, is to bolster aid and services for those living in rural parts of the country, particularly those who live in underserved communities.
Also this year, the HRSA earmarked $4.8 billion from the American Rescue Plan to support the HRSA COVID-19 Uninsured Program. The funding was meant to allow the program to continue reimbursing healthcare providers for testing uninsured Americans for COVID-19.
Twitter: @JELagasse
Email the writer: jeff.lagasse@himssmedia.com
