On April 7, the Well being Sources and Providers Administration (HRSA) introduced greater than $135 million in new funding alternatives to broaden diet companies and strengthen the agricultural well being workforce. Secretary of Well being and Human Providers (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., alongside HRSA Administrator Tom Engels and Consultant Juan Ciscomani (AZ-R), introduced this funding throughout a Preventative Care Roundtable.
Expanded Diet Providers (ENS) would obtain $125 million in funding. In response to the press launch, the funding will help greater than 350 HRSA-funded well being facilities in increasing entry to diet companies and food-based interventions inside main care settings. These efforts goal to stop and handle continual illnesses resembling weight problems, coronary heart illness, and diabetes.
The Rural Residency Planning and Improvement (RRPD) Program would obtain $11.25 million in funding. HRSA plans to award as much as 15 grants of as much as $750,000 every over three years to help new rural residency applications in high-need specialties, together with household drugs, inner drugs, psychiatry, OB-GYN, normal surgical procedure, and preventive drugs.
HRSA-funded well being facilities serve greater than 32.4 million sufferers at over 16,000 websites nationwide, together with one in 5 rural residents.
The RRPD program offers start-up funding to determine sustainable rural residency applications supported by long-term funding sources like Medicare and Medicaid. Since 2019, HRSA has awarded 103 grants throughout 36 states and one territory, supporting 62 accredited applications, greater than 660 resident physicians, and over 750 residency positions in rural communities.
