Innovations in the Health Care Workforce
- National Health Care Workforce Commission. Establishes a new Commission to review health care workforce supply and demand and make recommendations on priorities and goals, to oversee and report on the operation of state health care workforce development grants, study effective mechanisms for financing education and training for health care careers, submit recommendations on improving workplace safety, and assess reports from the National Center for Health Care Workforce Analysis. (PPACA §§ 5101, 10501(a))
- State Workforce Development Grants. Provides for planning and implementation grants to enable state partnerships to complete comprehensive planning and carry out workforce strategies at the state and local levels. (PPACA § 5102)
- National and State Centers for Workforce Analysis. Provides for the National Center, together with the Commission, to develop information on health care workforce issues, evaluate program effectiveness, develop performance benchmarks and establish a national health workforce database. Awards grants to state and regional centers to collect, analyze and report on workforce data at the state and local level. (PPACA § 5103)
- Alaska Task Force. Establishes a temporary task force to assess health care access and develop a strategy to improve health care delivery in Alaska. (PPACA § 10501(b))
|
Increasing Workforce Supply
- Loan Programs. Increases interest rates for students failing to comply with the terms of medical school and primary care federally supported loans. Amends loan agreements under the Nursing Student Loan Program. Creates a pediatric specialty loan repayment program to increase the supply of pediatric providers. (PPACA §§ 5201-5203)
- Recruitment and Retention Programs. Establishes a Public Health Workforce Loan Repayment Program and recruitment and retention programs for allied health professionals to ensure an adequate supply of public health professionals to eliminate critical shortages in federal, state, local and tribal public health agencies. (PPACA §§ 5204, 5205)
- Grants for State and Local Programs. Provides grants for scholarships to eligible individuals to enroll in degree or professional training programs to enable mid-career professionals in the public health and allied health workforce to receive additional training. (PPACA § 5206)
- Provides funding for the National Health Service Corps. (PPACA § 5207)
- Provides grants for the cost of operating nurse-managed health clinics. (PPACA § 5208)
- Establishes a commissioned Regular Corps and a Ready Reserve Corps for service in time of national emergency and eliminates the cap on the commissioned corps. (PPACA §§ 5209, 5210)
|
Workforce Education and Training
- Grants or contracts to support and develop primary care training programs. (PPACA § 5301)
- Grants to enable new training for direct care workers in LTC settings. (PPACA § 5302)
- Grants or contracts to support and develop dental training programs. (PPACA § 5303)
- Demonstration project to establish training programs for alternative dental health providers to increase access to dental care in rural and underserved communities. (PPACA § 5304)
- Grants or contracts to: 1) geriatric education centers for fellowship programs and either family caregiver training or incorporation of best practices re: mental disorders in older adults; and 2) health professionals, to foster greater interest in entering the fields of geriatrics, LTC and chronic care management. (PPACA § 5305)
- Grants to higher education institutions to support recruitment of students for, and education and clinical experience of students in, behavioral and mentalhealth education programs as well as state-licensed mental health organizations. (PPACA § 5306)
- Support for the development, evaluation and dissemination of research, demonstrations and model curricula for cultural competency, prevention and public health proficiency and aptitude for working with individuals with disabilities training. (PPACA § 5307)
- Makes nurse-midwifery programs eligible for nursing education grants. (PPACA § 5308)
- Grants to enhance the nursing workforce by initiating and maintaining nurse retention programs. (PPACA § 5309)
- Expands the existing loan repayment and scholarship programs for nursing students. (PPACA § 5310)
- Provides for repayment of education loans to increase the number of qualified nursing faculty. (PPACA § 5311)
- Grants to promote positive health behaviors for populations in medically underserved areas through the use of community health workers. (PPACA §
- 5313)
- Provides funding for fellowship programs in epidemiology training, laboratory training and Public Health Informatics as well as for expanding the Epidemic Intelligence Service. (PPACA § 5314)
- Establishes a Public Health Sciences Track with authority to grant appropriate advanced degrees. (PPACA § 5315)
- Establishes a training demonstration program that supports recent practitioner graduates in primary care in Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and nurse-managed health clinics. (PPACA § 10501(e))
|
Support for Existing Workforce
- Establishes conditions for grants to health professions schools as “centers of excellence.” (PPACA § 5401)
- Increases funding for loan repayment scholarships for disadvantaged students. Provides funding to reauthorize loan repayments and fellowships for faculty positions and to reauthorize educational assistance in the health professions for individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds. (PPACA § 5402)
- Provides for awards to medical schools to recruit minorities into health professions, prepare individuals to provide care in underserved areas, conduct interdisciplinary training and deliver or facilitate continuing education. (PPACA § 5403)
- Expands the diversity workforce grant program to include additional scholarship services including bridge or degree completion programs and accelerated nursing degree programs. (PPACA § 5404)
- Establishes a primary care extension program to provide support and assistance to PCPs to educate providers about specified topics. (PPACA § 5405)
|
Primary Care Workforce
- Establishes a 10% Medicare bonus payment for certain primary care providers (PCPs) for select codes. Provides a 10% bonus for general surgeons providing major surgical procedures in health professional shortage areas. Effective 1/1/11 through 12/31/15. (PPACA §§ 5501, 10501(h))
- Establishes a Medicare prospective payment system for FQHCs, effective 10/1/14. (PPACA § 5502, which was replaced by PPACA § 10501(i))
- Provides for redistribution of currently unused residency training slots to encourage increased training, especially in primary care and general surgery. (PPACA § 5503)
- Provides more flexibility in the laws and regulations governing graduate medical education (GME) funding in the Medicare program. (PPACA § 5504- 5506)
- Creates a demonstration program to develop training and certification programs for personal and home care aides. Extends funding for family-to-family health information centers. (PPACA § 5507)
- Establishes Teaching Health Centers Development Grants to establish newly accredited or expanded primary care residency programs. Provides for payments to qualified teaching health centers for expansion of existing or establishment of new approved GME residency training programs. (PPACA § 5508)
- Provides for a graduate nurse education demonstration program. (PPACA § 5509)
- Amends and reauthorizes the preventive medicine and public health residency program. (PPACA § 10501(m))
|
Improving Access to Health Services
- Appropriates additional funds for FQHCs. (PPACA § 5601)
- Establishes a comprehensive methodology and criteria for designation of medically underserved populations and health professions shortage areas through negotiated rulemaking. (PPACA § 5602)
- Reauthorizes and funds the Wakefield Emergency Medical Services for Children Program through FY 2014. (PPACA § 5603)
- Provides for demonstration projects for the provision of coordinated and integrated services to special populations through the co-location of primary and specialty care in community-based mental health settings. (PPACA § 5604)
- Provides for grants to providers that treat a high percentage of medically underserved and other special populations. (PPACA § 10501(k))
- Provides for grants to recruit students most likely to practice in underserved rural communities. (PPACA § 10501(l))
- Requires HHS to make annual reports to Congress on the bill’s workforce provisions. (PPACA § 5701)
- Improves the National Health Service Corps program by increasing loan prepayment amounts, allowing for half-time service and allowing for teaching to count for up to 20% of the corps service commitment. (PPACA § 10501(n))
- Establishes a Community Health Centers and National Health Service Corps to expand investment in CHCs. (PPACA § 10503)
- Loan Repayment Tax Relief. Excludes from gross income payments made under any state loan repayment or loan forgiveness program that is intended to provide for the increased availability of health care services in underserved or health professional shortage areas. (PPACA § 10908)
|
