With all the doom and gloom in regards to the state budget and reimbursement delays & cuts, I am happy to share with you the following news. Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health & Human Services, along with the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) announced the availability of $250 million over the next 5 years to strengthen the primary care workforce. RFPs have already been released for some of the following:

Creating additional primary care residency slots: $168 million for training more than 500 new primary care physicians by 2015;

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, and can be trained in a shorter period of time compared to physicians;

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 health clinics which assist in the training of nurse practitioners. These clinics are staffed by nurse practitioners, which 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 percent over ten years to meet increased demand for primary care services.