HHS Grants Millions For Primary & Preventive Care
As you may be aware, in June 2010 the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services announced that $500 million in grants would be made available for primary and preventive care – including funds specifically supporting nurses. These funds come from the Prevention and Public Health fund for fiscal year 2010, created by the new healthcare reform law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. More recently, HHS announced an additional $96 million in grants to improve the diversity of the healthcare workforce, and encourage nurses to pursue careers in education.
Primary Care: On June 16, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced $250 million in funding to “strengthen our primary care workforce to ensure that more Americans can get the quality of care they need to stay healthy.”
The funding consists of:
- $168 million to create 500 new primary care physician residency slots;
- $32 million to support training of 600 new physician assistants;
- $30 million to train an additional 600 nurse practitioners, including incentives to allow them to attend school full-time;
- $15 million in support for 10 nurse-managed health clinics, which are staffed by nurse practitioners;
- $5 million for states to develop plans to increase their supply of primary care providers by 10-25 percent over 10 years.
Prevention and Public Health: On June 18, Secretary Sebelius announced that $250 million would also be made available, for fiscal year 2010, to support prevention and public health programs. “Investing in proven preventive services will help patients get the care they need early, avoiding costly and unnecessary care later. This prevention-focused approach is better for doctors, patients, and our national balance sheet.”
The funds will go to:
- $126 million for community and clinical prevention at federal, state, and local levels, for activities such as obesity, fitness, tobacco use, and integrating primary care with community behavioral care;
- $70 million to support public health infrastructure to respond to infectious diseases, etc.;
- $31 million for data collection, analysis, and task forces;
- $23 million to expand the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention public health workforce and training centers.
Diversity & Nurse Educators: On July 1, HHS announced the awarding of $96 million in grants to increase the diversity of the healthcare workforce and support nursing education, as detailed below. Mary Wakefield, PhD, RN, administrator of the Health Resources Services Administration, noted that “A critical part of HRSA’s mission is to help make sure that we have the right kinds of health care professionals serving in the right places – places where they can do the most good for the most people. With this new infusion of funds, we will be able to increase training opportunities for a future generation of health care professionals.”
- $66 million to provide scholarships for 28,000 disadvantaged students in health professions programs at the college/university level, under the Scholarships for Disadvantaged Students Program;
- $30 million was awarded under the Nurse Faculty Loan Program to 165 grantees to provide loans to 850 nursing students at the master and doctoral level who go on to become nursing professors. The students can get cancellation of 85 percent of their loan in exchange for teaching at a school of nursing.
Additional information can be found on the HHS website and the White House health reform website.
Eileen Shannon Carlson, RN, JD
Tags: Health and Human Services (HHS), June 2010, preventive care, primary care
