Health Resources & Services Administration: The Impact on Rural Health

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary federal agency for improving health care for people who are geographically isolated, economically or medically vulnerable. The Agency programs assist those in need of high-quality primary healthcare. HRSA also supports the training of health professionals for improved health care delivery. When visiting the HRSA website (https://www.hrsa.gov/) there is access to data, grants, scholarships, organizations, and many other educational resources.

This article will focus on summarizing the Vulnerable Rural Hospital Assistance Program (VRHAP) and the Bureau of Health Workforce (BHW) that are currently available.

Vulnerable Rural Hospital Assistance Program (VRHAP)

The Vulnerable Rural Hospitals Assistance Program (VRHAP) provides targeted in-depth assistance to vulnerable rural hospitals struggling to maintain healthcare services with the goal for residents in those rural communities to continue to have access to essential health services. The overall goal of this program is maintaining local healthcare.

Within the VRHAP, the Center for Optimizing Rural Health (CORH) was created to work with those rural hospitals and communities across the US that are vulnerable to closure. The CORH will offer three tiers of assistance:

• Tier One – On-Site Technical Assistance
• Tier Two – Virtual Technical Assistance
• Tier Three – Self – Directed Technical Assistance

Visit the HRSA website for more information.

Bureau of Health Workforce (BHW)

Another assistance program that is available is The Bureau of Health Workforce (BHW). BHW improves the health of underserved and vulnerable populations by strengthening the health workforce and connecting skilled professionals to communities in need. 

The priorities of the BHW include:

• Transforming the health care workforce through sustained support of clinicians working in underserved areas;
• Increasing access to behavioral health services, including substance use disorder treatment; and
• Leveraging health care workforce data to inform program and policy decisions.

There are several ways in which the BHW strengthens the Healthcare Workforce including:

• Scholarship, Loan, and Loan Repayment Programs for Health Professionals
• Health Professions Training Grants to Support Institutions
• Strategic Partnerships
• Shortage Designation
• Health Workforce Analysis
• National Practitioner Data Bank

Visit the HRSA website for more information.

References:

Health Resources & Services Administration. (n.d.). Retrieved on July 17, 2019 from https://www.hrsa.gov/.

Health Resources & Services Administration. (n.d.). Vulnerable Rural Hospital Assistance. Retrieved on July 17, 2019 from https://www.hrsa.gov/library/vulnerable-rural-hospital-assistance.

Health Resources & Services Administration. (2019, June). Bureau of Health Workforce. Retrieved on July 17, 2019 from https://www.hrsa.gov/about/organization/bureaus/bhw/index.html.