Friends of HRSA Letter on Fiscal Year 2005 Health Resources and Services Administration Funding

Friends of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)
c/o American Public Health Association
800 I Street NW
Washington DC, 20001
202-777-2514

July 6, 2004

Dear Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee Member:

The Friends of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is an advocacy coalition of more than 125 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, and the elimination of health disparities. The Friends of HRSA estimate that a minimum of $8 billion is needed in FY 2005 to adequately fund HRSA.

HRSA is responsible for assuring that there is an adequate number of properly trained health care personnel to provide needed 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 programs often serve minority and uninsured populations that lack alternate sources of care. In its commitment to meeting Healthy People 2010 objectives, HRSA’s primary goal is achieving 100 percent access to care and 0 percent health disparities for all Americans.

Unfortunately, a number of programs ranging from health professions training, public health preparedness and programs that provide access to care for the uninsured and underinsured are slated for significant cuts under the president’s proposed budget. Overall, the President proposes to cut existing HRSA programs by $603 million, or over 8 percent, at a time when the combination of severe cuts to many state health budgets and the still sluggish economy is increasing the number of individuals and families turning to federally funded programs for assistance and care.

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

• Hospital and Provider Preparedness: Existing programs for emergency services, safety net facilities, and health professions training must be expanded in response to these challenging times. All responders, providers and facilities must be ready to detect and respond to complex disasters, including terrorism.
• Health Professions programs educate and train a variety of health care providers, including physicians, nurses, dentists, physician assistants, public health personnel, pharmacists, psychologists and other mental health professionals, allied health providers and veterinarians. In addition to improving the supply of providers, the programs seek to enhance the diversity and distribution of the nation’s health care workforce to address the needs of our rapidly changing and aging population.
• Primary Care programs include the Community, Migrant, Homeless and School-Based Health Centers. Strong funding supports a shared goal, to double the number of people served at Consolidated Health Centers, to fund new Centers in identified shortage areas, and to include essential dental, pharmacy and mental health services in all Centers.
• Maternal and Child Health: Flexible Maternal and Child Health Block Grants, Healthy Start, and other programs provide services including pre-natal care, newborn screening, school-based health, oral health and mental health care services, and well-child care for millions of women and children not covered through Medicaid or S-CHIP.
• HIV/AIDS: Ryan White CARE Act programs include grants to states, hardest hit urban areas, and community-based providers to provide health care, early intervention and supportive services to individual and families; the state AIDS Drug Assistance Program; the AIDS Education and Training Centers; and the HIV/AIDS Dental Reimbursement Program. The Minority HIV/AIDS Initiative also funds HIV/AIDS programs.
• Family Planning: (Title X) reproductive health care and other preventive services that improve maternal and child health outcomes, prevent unintended pregnancies and reduce the rate of abortions. Title X programs serve millions of low-income women and men at more than 4,600 clinics nationwide.
• 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.
• Coordinated Services for the Uninsured: The Healthy Community Access Program grants help communities build partnerships among health care providers to deliver more and better care to their neediest residents.
• 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 80,000-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 to eliminating racial, ethnic and other disparities in health. We are grateful for your support in the past and urge you to support a funding level of $8 billion for FY 2005 for HRSA programs.

Sincerely,

AIDS Action
Advocates for Youth
Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine
Ambulatory Pediatric Association
American Academy of Family Physicians
American Academy of Nurse Practitioners
American Academy of Pediatrics
American Academy of Physician Assistants
American Association of Colleges of Nursing
American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy
American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine
American Association of Colleges of Podiatric Medicine
American College of Nurse Practitioners
American College of Preventive Medicine
American Dental Association
American Dental Hygienists' Association
American Heart Association
American Medical Student Association
American Pediatric Society
American Physical Therapy Association
American Public Health Association
American School Health Association
Association of American Medical Colleges
Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges
Association of Clinicians for the Underserved
Association of Departments of Family Medicine
Association of Family Medicine Residency Directors
Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs
Association of Medical School Pediatric Department Chairs
Association of Minority Health Professions Schools
Association of Organ Procurement Organizations
Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses
Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science
Coalition for Health Funding
Coalition for American Trauma Care
Families USA
First Candle/Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Alliance
Hemophilia Federation of America
March of Dimes
Morehouse School of Medicine
National AHEC Organization
National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors
National Association of Community Health Centers
National Association of County and City Health Officials
National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners
National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems
National Black Nurses Association
National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association
National League for Nursing
NARAL Pro-Choice America
North American Primary Care Research Group
Pulmonary Hypertension Association
Society for Adolescent Medicine
Society for Pediatric Research
Society of General Internal Medicine
Society of Teachers of Family Medicine