HHS Awards $55.5M to Strengthen America’s Healthcare Workforce
- By BSTQ Staff
In December, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced $55.5 million in grants to support training for health professionals and bolster the size of the nation’s healthcare workforce.
The grants, which total more than 270 that will be managed by HHS’ Health Resources and Services Administration, will focus on health workforce needs, including nursing, public health, behavioral health, health workforce development and dentistry.
A majority of the funding, $45.4 million, will support nursing workforce expansion in the following six areas: increasing the number of nurse faculty by providing low-interest loans and loan cancellation; improving nursing diversity by expanding educational opportunities to students from disadvantaged backgrounds; increasing nurse anesthetists by providing traineeships to licensed registered nurses enrolled as full-time students in a master’s or doctoral nurse anesthesia program; stimulating collaboration by bringing together nurses and other healthcare professionals to create and implement new practice models for providing care; supporting advanced nursing education by funding advanced nursing programs that support registered nurses in becoming nurse practitioners, nurse midwives and other practice nurses; and training doctoral-level psychologists to address the behavioral health needs of the underserved populations. An additional $3.1 million in funding will allow states to develop and implement innovative programs to assist areas where there are shortages in dental healthcare professionals. States must match at least 40 percent of the grant funding or provide equivalent support.
