FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, February 5, 2008 |
CONTACT:
HRSA PRESS OFFICE
301-443-3376 |
President's FY 2009 Budget Proposal for HRSA Continues March to Expand
Health Center Network, Access to Life-Saving Drugs for People With HIV/AIDS
President Bush's proposed Fiscal Year 2009 budget of $5.9 billion for the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) continues historic efforts to expand access to health care for millions of Americans. In addition, the proposal helps ensure low-income people living with HIV/AIDS get the pharmaceuticals they need to stay healthy and lead productive lives.
The budget also decreases funds for health professions and rural health programs that are duplicative of other activities or that have failed to demonstrate results.
The $2.05 billion budget proposal for health centers in FY 2009 would support more than 1,000 health center grantees at over 4,000 service delivery sites. Clinicians at those sites would provide primary health services to an estimated 17.1 million patients in 2009.
The budget's $26 million increase for health centers will fund up to 40 new health centers in high-poverty areas that currently have no health center sites and up to 25 planning grants to help community-based organizations in high-poverty areas prepare to win grants in future competitions.
The $2.2 billion slated for the Ryan White HIV/AIDS program in FY 2009 is $1.1 million more than the program's FY 2008 budget. The Ryan White program addresses the unmet health needs of people living with HIV/AIDS by funding primary health care and support services that enhance access to and retention in care. Its services will reach more than 500,000 individuals in 2009.
The budget for the Ryan White program's Part B grants to states would increase by $14 million. That increase includes an additional $8 million for outpatient medical care and $6 million more for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program. If approved, ADAP services would support 158,887 people living with HIV/AIDS in FY 2009.
"By increasing funds by $26 million for health centers and by $6 million for state ADAPs, the President's 2009 budget gives us the resources to continue HRSA's mission to expand health care to those who need it most," said HRSA Administrator Elizabeth M. Duke.
The President's proposal also asks for $43.7 million for the Nursing Loan Repayment and Scholarship Program, including support for 622 loan repayment awards for registered nurses who agree to work in health care facilities with a critical shortage of nurses and 212 nursing scholarships. Nursing scholars are required to serve for a minimum of two years in a facility with a critical nursing shortage upon graduation.
The FY 2009 proposal for HRSA's National Health Service Corps will support a field strength of more than 3,400 clinicians, with over half assigned to serve in HRSA-supported health centers. In addition, the budget provides $11 million for targeted activities to recruit and retain dentists to serve in the NHSC.
The proposed budget also contains a request for an additional $3.1 million for the National Cord Blood Inventory Program administered by HRSA; those extra funds would add approximately 8,650 new cord blood units to the inventory.
2007 was a year of achievement for HRSA. The agency completed President Bush's multiyear plan to expand the health center network and, for the first time, made sure AIDS drugs were made available to all eligible applicants for them.
In December 2007, President Bush traveled to an Omaha, Neb., health center to celebrate the completion of his 2001 Health Center Initiative to open or expand 1,200 health center sites. Between 2001 and 2006, the number of patients treated at health centers increased by over 4.7 million, a nearly 50 percent increase in just five years.
Another milestone was reached when no individuals living with HIV/AIDS were left on state-based waiting lists to receive medications funded under HRSA's AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP). State ADAPs make medications available to low-income HIV/AIDS patients who cannot afford them; currently, all individuals who have applied for state ADAP assistance and are eligible to receive such aid are receiving it.
More information on HRSA 's FY 2009 budget can be found in the HHS Budget in Brief, pages 18-23.
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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.
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