The Health Professions Nursing Education Coalition (HPNEC) on April 27 submitted a letter to congressional leadership requesting $367 million in emergency supplemental funds for the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Title VII health professions and Title VIII nursing workforce development programs in response to the COVID-19 public health emergency.
This six-month supplemental funding for Titles VII and VIII "will ensure that our nation has a robust health workforce positioned to fight COVID-19 and future public health crises,” according to the coalition’s letter.
"The HRSA Titles VII and VIII programs are structured to respond to changing delivery systems and models of care, such as telehealth, while expediently addressing immediate health threats in all communities," the letter states.
The programs are also designed to recruit and train a culturally competent health workforce that meets the needs of diverse patients to help mitigate health disparities across race and ethnicities, such as those seen during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Title VII and Title VIII programs were reauthorized through fiscal year 2025 in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES, P.L. 116-136), which was passed earlier this spring [see Washington Highlights, March 27].
Upon the passage of the CARES Act, AAMC Chief Public Policy Officer Karen Fisher, JD stated, "The HRSA Title VII programs play an important role in recruiting, training, and shaping the nation's health workforce that is currently on the front lines of the COVID-19 national emergency."
- Washington Highlights