HHS Invests $283M to Spread Primary Care Services
- According to a recent press release from Health and Human Services (HHS), the organization has invested $283 million in the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) in the 2014 fiscal year. The goal is to increase access to primary care services in communities that require more help.
HHS secretary Sylvia Burwell said in the release that this is happening because of the Affordable Care Act. It allows programs like the National Health Service Corps to increase the primary care workforce in the communities that need it most. Now, patients in urban, rural and tribal areas across the country will have access to important health screenings, vaccines, oral checkups and mental health care. These investments highlight how the law is working to deliver accessible, affordable and quality care.
The NHSC provides financial, professional and educational resources for medical, dental and mental behavioral health care providers who operate in areas of the U.S. with limited access to health care. This is done in three ways.
Loan repayments – Participants must apply and accept a position at an NHSC-approved site of their choosing. Once accepted members and providers have the opportunity to pay off all of their debt.
Scholarships – The NHSC Scholarship Program pays students’ tuition, books, a living stipend and other costs while the students train to become a primary care provider. Students must be enrolled in an accredited medical, dental, nurse practitioner, certified nurse midwife or physician assistant training program. After graduation, scholars will serve as primary care providers in an NHSC-approved site for two to four years.
Sites – The organization also helps find NHSC-approved sites that provide outpatient, ambulatory, primary health services in Health Professional Storage Areas, which operate in communities with limited access to care. Sites must apply to become a site and once approved, gain access to desperately-needed primary care providers.
“Primary care clinicians are the backbone of our health system, and thanks to the Affordable Care Act, programs like the National Health Service Corps increase the primary care workforce in medically underserved communities,” Health Resources and Services Administration Administrator Mary Wakefield, Ph.D., R.N, said in the release. “In fiscal year 2014, we provided more than 5,100 loan repayment and scholarship awards to clinicians and students, and grants to 38 states to support state loan repayment programs.”
The organization has been in existence since 1972, helping build healthy communities. Since 2008, the number of primary care providers in the NHSC has more than doubled through the Recovery Act and the ACA. Today, more than 9,200 Corps clinicians are providing care to approximately 9.7 million patients across the country at 4,900 health care facilities nationwide. On top of that, 1,100 students and residents in training in all 50 states.
