Friends of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)

February 21, 2001

The Honorable Tommy G. Thompson
Secretary of Health and Human Service
200 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, DC  20201

Dear Mister Secretary:

The undersigned members of the Friends of HRSA write to warmly welcome you in your new position, and to offer our pledge of support for the mission of the Health Resources and Services Administration. We appreciate your efforts to secure sound funding for HRSA programs as you have worked to develop the Health and Human Services budget for fiscal year 2002 in the face of budgetary constraints.

The Friends of HRSA is an advocacy coalition of more than 125 national organizations, collectively representing millions of public health and health care professionals, academicians, and consumers. Our member organizations strongly support programs that assure Americans’ access to health services. HRSA programs provide optimal health care for patients with HIV/AIDS and for women who need maternal and children’s health and family planning services. In addition, HRSA is responsible for assuring that there are an adequate number of properly trained health care personnel to provide needed services. HRSA programs often serve minority and uninsured populations that lack alternate sources of care. In its commitment to meeting Health People 2010 objectives, HRSA’s primary goal is achieving 100 percent access to care and 0 percent health disparities for all Americans.

Listed below are some of the major health care initiatives conducted by HRSA:

• Health Professions programs include a broad array of educational programs that provide training for physicians, nurses, dentists, physicians assistants, nurse practitioners, public health personnel, and many other allied health providers. Health Professions programs are essential to assure an adequate national workforce despite projected nationwide shortages of nurses, pharmacists, and other professionals. Flexible Community Access Program grants allow communities to work with local partners to deliver health services tailored to community needs.
• Primary Care programs include the Community, Migrant and Homeless Health Centers. Strong funding would permit HRSA to continue funding services for more than 9 million people across the country, almost half of whom are uninsured, to build new centers in about 1000 identified shortage areas, and to include essential mental health services in all Centers. The National Health Service Corps provides scholarship and loan repayment support for health professionals willing to work in underserved areas. Despite the need for more than 20,000 clinicians in shortage areas, only 15% of scholarship requests are currently funded.
• Maternal and Child Health programs include the flexible Maternal and Child Health Block Grants, Emergency Medical Services for Children, and Healthy Start. Services include pre-natal care, newborn screening, and well-child care for millions of women and children, including services not covered through Medicaid or S-CHIP.
• HIV/AIDS programs include the Ryan White CARE Act provisions: Emergency Relief Grants for hard-hit urban areas, Comprehensive Care, Early Intervention, Demonstration Grants for Children, Adolescents and Families, the AIDS Education and Training Centers, and HIV/AIDS Dental Reimbursement Program. The Ryan White programs represent the federal government’s most significant HIV-specific response to medical and support services.
• Family Planning programs (Title X) provide reproductive health care and other preventive health services. Family planning services improve maternal and child health outcomes, lower the incidence of unintended pregnancies and reduce the rate of abortions. Title X plays a vital role in the health care safety net by providing comprehensive, voluntary and affordable family planning services to 4.4 million low-income women—many of whom are uninsured—at more than 4,500 clinics nationwide. For every public dollar invested in family planning, three dollars are saved in Medicaid costs for pregnancy and newborn care.
• Rural Health programs include Rural Health Outreach and Network Development Grants and Rural Health Research Centers, and other programs designed to stabilize financially troubled rural hospitals and provide additional support in sparsely populated and frontier areas.
• Special Programs include Health Teaching Facilities, the Organ Procurement and Transplant Network, and the National Marrow Donor Program. Strong funding would facilitate an increase in organ donations, helping to serve the 71,000-plus patients currently awaiting a donated organ.

The undersigned organizations believe that HRSA programs are crucial to the health of millions of Americans, key to maintaining a strong public health infrastructure, and essential in eliminating racial and ethnic disparities in health. We are grateful for your commitment to improve our nation’s health, and stand ready to help you secure the strongest possible funding for HRSA programs.

Sincerely,

Staffed by:
American Public Health Association
Sarah A. Lister, DVM, MPH
Director of Congressional Affairs