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HHS Announces $500 Million Prevention and Public Health
Fund
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New Resource
StateHealth is a new e-update from the AAP Division of
State Government Affairs that offers the latest information and resources
on state implementation of federal health reform and state access
initiatives. StateHealth updates will be archived on the
State
Government Affairs page of the AAP Member Center.
The first installment of
StateHealth was sent on June 16, 2010 and focused on the
recently released Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for states and
eligible territories regarding the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood
Home Visiting Program.
This installment focuses on
2 recent announcements from US Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
Primary Health Care
Workforce
On June 16, 2010, Secretary Sebelius announced a series of new
investments worth $250 million to increase the number of health care
providers and strengthen the primary care workforce. The new
investments were made possible by the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
These investments in the primary care workforce are the first allocation
from the new $500 million Prevention and Public Health fund for fiscal
year 2010, created by the Affordable Care Act. Half of this fund – $250
million – will be used to boost the supply of primary care providers in
this country by providing new resources for:
- Creating additional primary care residency slots: $168 million for training
more than 500 new primary care physicians by 2015. These programs
include general pediatrics, general internal medicine, and family
medicine. The funds may only be used to increase enrollment through
resident stipend support. Applications
are due July 19 and applicants may request support for only one
residency program/discipline per application.
- Supporting physician assistant training in primary
care: $32
million for supporting the development of more than 600 new
physician assistants, who practice medicine as members of a team
with their supervising physician.
- Encouraging students to pursue full-time nursing
careers: $30
million for encouraging over 600 nursing students to attend school
full-time so that they have better odds of completing their
education.
- Establishing new nurse practitioner-led clinics: $15 million for the operation
of 10 nurse-managed and staffed health clinics which assist in the
training of nurse practitioners and, according to HHS, “provide
comprehensive primary health care services to populations living in
medically underserved communities.”
- Encouraging states to plan for and address health
professional workforce needs: $5 million for states to plan
and implement innovative strategies to expand their primary care
workforce by 10 to 25% over 10 years to meet increased demand for
primary care services.
For more information,
please consult the fact sheet Creating
Jobs and Increasing the Number of Primary Care Providers.
Prevention and Public Health
On June 18, 2010, Secretary Sebelius announced $250 million in new
investments to support prevention activities and develop the nation’s
public health infrastructure. These investments in prevention and public
health are the second allocation for FY 2010 from the new $500 million
Prevention and Public Health fund created by the ACA.
The $250 million investment in prevention and public health will go to:
- Community and Clinical Prevention: $126 million will support
federal, state, and community prevention initiatives, the
integration of primary care services into publicly funded
community-based behavioral health settings, obesity prevention and
fitness, and tobacco cessation.
- Public Health Infrastructure: $70 million will support
state, local, and tribal public health infrastructure and build
state and local capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to
infectious disease outbreaks.
- Research and Tracking: $31 million for data
collection and analysis, to strengthen CDC’s Community Guide by
supporting the Task Force on Community Preventive Services, and to
improve transparency and public involvement in the Clinical
Preventive Services Task Force.
- Public Health Training: $23 million to expand CDC’s public
health workforce programs and public health training centers.
More
information on the application process for these programs will be
forthcoming from HHS. For more information, please consult the fact sheet
Affordable Care Act: Laying the Foundation for
Prevention.
The Division of State Government Affairs sends this update
to the Academy's Executive Committee, Board of Directors, District Vice
Chairs, Chapter Presidents, Chapter Vice Presidents, Chapter Legislative
Contacts, Committee on State Government Affairs, Committee on Federal
Government Affairs, Chapter Executive Directors, and other interested AAP
members and staff.
For additional state legislative information, strategy suggestions,
in-depth resources on issues of pediatric interest, and past editions of
this update, log onto the AAP Member Center and see the State Government
Affairs area at http://www.aap.org/moc/stgovaffairs.
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