FY 2010 Budget for HRSA Continues Expansion of Health Workforce Programs

President Barack Obama's FY 2010 budget request for HRSA improves access to health care in underserved areas and decisively expands the agency's nurse loan repayment and scholarship program and the National Health Service Corps (NHSC).

The nurse loan repayment and scholarship program budget would rise from $37 million this year to $125 million in 2010, an increase of $88 million. The NHSC budget would be set at $169 million, an increase of $34 million over this year's amount.

These proposals continue the President's focus on the health professions workforce begun in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which he signed Feb. 17. That legislation provided $300 million to the NHSC to double the number of clinicians serving in areas where health care services are scarce, and another $200 million to expand some of HRSA's health professions programs.

The Recovery Act also directed an unprecedented $2 billion investment in health centers to improve their facilities and increase services to some of the tens of millions of low-income Americans who live in underserved rural and urban communities. The 2010 request for health centers continues at the same level as in 2009, $2.15 billion.

The President's full request for HRSA, set at just over $7.1 billion, can be found in the HHS Budget in Brief (PDF - 1.58 MB) on pages 22-27. That includes $2.27 billion for Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program activities, $54 million over the 2009 allocation.

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), part of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary Federal agency for improving access to health care services for people who are uninsured, isolated, or medically vulnerable. For more information about HRSA and its programs, visit www.hrsa.gov.

Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news.