HHS Announces $13.4 Million in Financial Assistance to Support Nurses

HHS Deputy Secretary Bill Corr today announced the release of $13.4 million for loan repayments to nurses who agree to practice in facilities with critical shortages and for schools of nursing to provide loans to students who will become nurse faculty. The funds were made
available by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), signed Feb. 17, 2009, by President Obama.

"The need for more nurses is great. Over the next decade, nurse retirements and an aging U.S. population, among other factors, will create the need for hundreds of thousands of new nurses," Deputy Secretary Corr said. "The awards from these two HRSA programs will help us meet projected demand for their services."

The awards come from two programs administered by HHS' Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA): the Nurse Education Loan Repayment Program and the Nurse Faculty Loan Program.

* Funding announced today under the Nurse Education Loan Repayment Program (NELRP) totals $8.1 million. Those funds, awarded competitively, will help 100 registered nurses pay their nursing education debts. The program repays 60 percent of the loan balance of registered nurses in exchange for two years of service at facilities with a critical shortage of nurses. (For a list of facilities employing the first 100 NELRP award winners from ARRA funds, see the attached
table.) Participants may be eligible to work a third year and receive additional repayment assistance.

* Funds announced today under the Nurse Faculty Loan Program (NFLP) total $5.3 million. Those funds go to schools of nursing to support the training of 500 masters and doctoral nursing students who plan to become nurse faculty after completing their education. Following graduation, loan recipients may cancel up to 85 percent of the loan principal and interest in exchange for four years of service as a full-time nursing faculty at a school of nursing. (For a list of universities that received NFLP funds, see the attached table.)

Approximately 50,000 individuals interested in going to nursing school are turned away due to insufficient capacity at schools of nursing. The two main factors limiting the ability to train more nurses are a faculty shortage and insufficient clinical training sites.

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Secretary Sebelius Makes Recovery Act Funding Available to Bolster Health Care in Needy Communities, Relieve Providers' Student Debt

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius yesterday announced the availability of nearly $200 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to support student loan repayments for primary care medical, dental and mental health clinicians who want to work at National Health Service Corps (NHSC) sites.

In exchange for the loan repayments, clinicians serve for two years with the Corps. The new funds are expected to double the number of Corps clinicians and make 3,300 awards to
clinicians that serve in health centers, rural health clinics and other health care facilities that care for uninsured and underserved people.

Secretary Sebelius made the announcement prior to touring the Tufts Floating Children's Hospital in Boston, Mass., where she was joined by members of the National Health Service Corps. Following the tour, Sebelius held a discussion with health care experts and Massachusetts
Governor Deval Patrick on the importance of health reform.

The funds announced today were made available by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which has made a down payment on the critical health reforms our country needs and protected health care and vital services for Americans across the country.

"The Recovery Act has laid the foundation for health reform and is supporting our effort to give more people access to the quality, affordable care they need," Secretary Sebelius said. "National Health Service Corps has helped protect the health and well-being of millions of Americans. Now, we are doubling the Corps and putting doctors and clinicians in the communities where they are desperately needed."

"As we await a national health care reform plan, a careful look at Massachusetts' historic efforts to obtain near-universal health insurance coverage offers valuable insights into what we can achieve as a nation," Governor Patrick said. "We thank President Obama and Secretary Sebelius for their strong commitment to ensuring that all Americans have access to quality, affordable care. Recovery Act funding for student loan repayments will further support our reform efforts by helping to deliver care to the communities where it's needed most."

"The health care professionals who heed this call to serve will join thousands of dedicated NHSC primary care clinicians already in the field," said Mary Wakefield, Ph.D., R.N., administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration which oversees the NHSC at HHS. "These funds will double both the number of Corps clinicians and the number of patients they care for, and spark economic growth in communities hit hard by the economic downturn."

Since its inception nearly 40 years ago, the NHSC has provided scholarships and loan repayments for more than 30,000 doctors, dentists and other health professionals who provide health care in the most geographically isolated and economically distressed regions of the
country.

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