HRSA - FY 2008 Budget Proposal for HRSA Adds Funds for Health Centers, HIV Care, Nurses

	U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration HRSA NEWS ROOM http://newsroom.hrsa.gov

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, February 7, 2007

CONTACT: HRSA PRESS OFFICE
301-443-3376

FY 2008 Budget Proposal for HRSA Adds Funds for Health Centers, HIV Care, Nurses

President Bush’s proposed budget for HRSA in FY 2008 would increase funding for health centers by more than $200 million over the FY 2007 current level, adding 342 new or expanded health center service sites and bringing the number of patients served annually to 16.3 million.

The FY 2008 budget would complete the goals of the President’s Health Center Initiative, announced in 2002, to increase the health center network by 1,200 new or expanded service sites. Additionally, it proposes to place up to 120 of the new health center sites (from the total of 342 new or expanded sites) in the nation’s poorest counties, where improved access to quality primary health care is badly needed.

The budget request also asks for an increase of $95 million for the newly reauthorized Ryan White CARE Act programs to expand HIV care to an additional 3,950 people. Approximately $70 million of that total would support grants to states for outpatient medical care; the remaining $25 million will provide medications through State AIDS Drug Assistance Programs.

The President’s proposal asks for an additional $13 million for the Nurse Loan Repayment and Scholarship program, bringing total funding for the program to nearly $44 million, up from just $2.3 million in FY 2000. The FY 2008 funding level would support more than 1,000 loan repayment contracts and 275 nursing scholarships and would provide over 2,200 years of nursing services to health care facilities across the country now facing nursing shortages. Nurses who sign repayment contracts agree to work for at least two years in health care facilities with a critical shortage of nurses. Scholarships are targeted to disadvantaged students; funds pay tuition, fees and a stipend.

More information on the FY 2008 budget for HRSA can be found in the HHS Budget in Brief at http://www.hhs.gov/budget/08budget/2008BudgetInBrief.pdf (PDF-816 KB). HRSA’s budget is discussed on pages 19-22 of that document.