Funding will Expand the Community-based Doula Workforce to Help Address Maternal Mortality

April 1 - The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), announced the availability of $4.5 million for hiring, training, certifying, and compensating community-based doulas in areas with high rates of adverse maternal and infant health outcomes. This announcement builds on the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity and address the nation’s Black maternal health crisis.

This funding, provided through HRSA’s Healthy Start Initiative, will increase the total number of Healthy Start doula programs from 25 to approximately 50 nationwide.  HRSA’s Healthy Start Initiative works to improve health before, during, and after pregnancy and reduce racial and ethnic disparities in rates of infant deaths and adverse maternal health outcomes.

Read the press release.

On Friday, April 8, our HIV/AIDS Bureau will remember the life of Ryan White, who was diagnosed with AIDS at age 13 and died 32 years ago on April 8, 1990.

Ryan White is the namesake for the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program. He fought AIDS-related discrimination and helped educate the nation about his disease. He died months before Congress passed the Ryan White CARE Act on August 18, 1990.

On Sunday, April 10, our Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP) will recognize National Youth HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NYHAAD).

This important observance is an opportunity to share how HIV impacts youth and young adults. In recognition, our HIV/AIDS Bureau encourages you to help support the RWHAP to increase awareness about HIV testing, sexual health, and HIV care and treatment services.

Learn more.

Provider Relief Fund recipients will be able to submit a Request to Report Late Due to Extenuating Circumstances for Reporting Period 1 from Monday, April 11 to Friday, April 22 at 11:59 p.m. ET.

The Request Form will be available starting on Monday, April 11.

We are seeking nominations of qualified candidates to serve as voting members of the Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders in Newborns and Children (ACHDNC), as well as representatives from relevant organizations.

ACHDNC provides advice, recommendations, and technical information about heritable disorders and newborn and childhood screening to the Secretary of HHS. Members review and report on newborn and childhood screening practices for heritable disorders and recommend program improvements and conditions to include in the Recommended Uniform Screening Panel (RUSP). Representatives are non-voting liaisons from organizations such as national public health constituencies, medical professional societies, and have broad constituencies and interest in newborn screening.

Nominees for members can include medical or scientific professionals with expertise in heritable disorders, screening, counseling, testing, or special services for newborns with heritable disorders, as well as in the ethics of newborn screening. The Committee will appoint two members to serve a term of up to 4 years beginning in 2023. Members receive a stipend and reimbursement for ACHDNC meeting expenses. Nominations for members are due by Monday, April 11 and by Monday, May 2 for organizational liaisons.

Federal Register Notices provide more information about nominating a member or a representative.

Are you an eligible health professional student planning to apply to the Nurse Corps Scholarship Program? We can help you with your application. Join our Nurse Corps Scholarship Program application assistance webinar on Thursday, April 14 from 3-4:30 p.m. ET, and get answers to your questions from program experts.

In exchange for 2 years of service in a critical shortage facility in rural, urban or tribal underserved communities, scholars receive tuition assistance and more.

Join us for the inaugural National Telehealth Conference on May 16-17. Experts and leaders in the field will examine the evolution of telehealth, discuss its place in an integrated health care delivery model, and review the lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic to inform the future of telehealth.

The January 2020 Federal Public Health Emergency (PHE) declaration for the COVID-19 pandemic led to the temporary expansion of behavioral health service delivery models offered through telehealth, also known as telebehavioral health.

Telebehavioral health has the potential to improve continuity of care for communities by increasing access to a wider network of behavioral health professionals, reducing stigma, and creating spaces for increased engagement and retention in substance abuse treatments. This Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) blog summarizes how Federal and state policy changes are increasing virtual access to behavioral health care.

HRSA’s National Organizations of State and Local Officials Cooperative Agreement provided support for this ASTHO blog.

As overdose fatalities increase, reaching a historic peak of over 100,000 deaths in 2020, states are continuing to invest in strategies to improve access to treatment for individuals with substance use disorder (SUD). This rise highlights the issues posed by the COVID-19 pandemic to SUD providers. Disruptions and changes in service delivery, and resulting changes in payment, have posed challenges to efforts to increase access to treatment. Policymakers in some states are starting to use the payments they make to providers and managed care plans as effective levers to increase both treatment access and service quality in their Medicaid programs. This National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) toolkit examines Medicaid payment strategies that four states use to improve SUD treatment for Medicaid beneficiaries.

HRSA’s National Organizations of State and Local Officials Cooperative Agreement provided support for this NASHP toolkit.