A letter from Dr. Michael D. Warren, Pediatrician and Associate Administrator for the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) at HRSA

The time has finally come when we can expand COVID-19 vaccination efforts down to age 5! Please help support and promote vaccination for children ages 5 through 11 so we can protect as many children and families as possible from COVID-19.

Read Dr. Warren's letter.

We are issuing an interim update to the FY 2019 – 2022 HRSA Strategic Plan to ensure alignment with Administration and HHS priorities, such as the emphasis on health equity, and the expansion of HRSA's program responsibilities, including activities associated with COVID-19 public health emergency response and the American Rescue Plan Act. 

We're proud to share that our own Dr. Reem M. Ghandour, Director of the Division of Epidemiology in our Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB), is a 2021 winner of the prestigious and highly selective Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal. These awards, also called “Sammies,” are considered the “Oscars” of government service.

Dr. Ghandour received this award for her work leading the National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH). Since 2013, she has transformed the NSCH, conducting the survey annually starting in 2016 and introducing a mail and web-based reporting system to increase response rates. For the 2021 survey, she also added new questions to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children and families. 

NSCH data are used to support performance measures for a number MCHB’s programs and multiple Healthy People objectives, and are regularly cited by media and external organizations to influence policy and programmatic efforts. 

Learn more at Partnership for Public Service.

Our National Health Service Corps (NHSC) opened its application for three of its loan repayment programs and plans to award a significant number of eligible providers. With an additional $800 million made available through the Biden-Harris Administration’s American Rescue Plan (ARP), this year’s awardees will add to the largest number of NHSC clinicians in history. 

Eligible clinicians providing primary medical, dental, behavioral health care services, or evidence-based substance use disorder treatment can qualify for loan repayment of up to:

• $50,000 for the NHSC Loan Repayment Program (NHSC LRP)
• $75,000 for the NHSC Substance Use Disorder Workforce Loan Repayment Program (NHSC SUD Workforce LRP)
• 100,000 for the NHSC Rural Community Loan Repayment Program (NHSC Rural Community LRP)

Application Due Date: Thursday, December 16, 7:30 p.m. ET.

Our Federal Office of Rural Health Policy is now accepting applications for the Delta Region Rural Health Workforce Training Program.

We plan to make three awards totaling $1.4 million to support education and training for current and future health professionals in the rural counties and parishes of the Mississippi River Delta Region and Alabama Black Belt.

Application Due Date: Tuesday, January 25, 2022.

Join the technical assistance webinar on Wednesday, November 10, 2 p.m. ET. For more information visit our Rural Hospital Programs webpage.

Read the recently released HHS Health Workforce Strategic Plan (PDF - 755 KB). The plan provides a forward-looking framework for health workforce improvements focused on four key goals:

• Expanding supply
• Ensuring equitable distribution
• Improving quality
• Enhancing the use of data and evidence to improve program outcomes

Providers with outstanding reporting requirements should visit the PRF Reporting Portal and submit their report on use of funds by Tuesday, November 30, 11:59 p.m. ET.

Providers who do not submit a completed report by the end of the 60-day grace period for PRF Reporting Period 1 may be subject to enforcement actions such as repayment or other debt collection activities.

All unused funds must be returned by Thursday, December 30. View instructions on how to return unused PRF funds.

The HHS Maternal-Child Health (MCH) Emergency Planning toolkit is designed to improve the capacity of health care, public health, and social services professionals to address maternal and child health in emergency preparedness, response, and mitigation activities. 

The toolkit outlines basic planning steps, highlights key resources and promising practices, and explains critical data and information to be integrated into emergency planning for MCH populations.

Our Office of Intergovernmental and External Affairs Region 9 and HHS’ Office on Women’s Health will host a webinar on Wednesday, November 10, 2 p.m. ET. Presenters will discuss their mitigation efforts and experiences during recent wildfires.

HHS’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH) has launched an initiative to strengthen primary health care.

In its recent report, Implementing High-Quality Primary Care: Rebuilding the Foundation of Health Care, the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine called upon HHS to take a leadership role in increasing access to high-quality primary health care.

Using the report as a roadmap, a team led by OASH’s Dr. Judith Steinberg (former Bureau of Primary Health Care Chief Medical Officer) will work with federal partners and stakeholders to develop HHS’ plan of action.

The health care industry has long experienced challenges in recruiting and retaining direct care workers due to low wages, high physical demands, and lack of upward mobility. 

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic brought with it a surge in demand for direct care workers while other industries experienced significant layoffs and business closures because of physical distancing restrictions and the economic downturn.

This National Governors Association issue brief provides a series of multi-sector state and employer strategies to address recruitment and health sector retention of direct care workers while balancing workforce needs, job quality, and wages.

HRSA’s National Organizations of State and Local Officials Cooperative Agreement provided support for this resource.

State COVID-19 response relies on intensified cross-sector collaboration that supports timely, flexible, targeted action in the midst of quickly-changing circumstances. This National Academy for State Health Policy report examines the efforts of three states on their approaches to cross-agency COVID-19 response.

HRSA’s National Organizations of State and Local Officials Cooperative Agreement provided support for this resource.