HRSA August in Brief

On August 27, Vice President Kamala Harris announced "a critical $440 million to support pregnant women, new mothers, and their children through home visiting programs that will improve health outcomes, child development, and access to resources for years to come." In 2022, President Biden signed bipartisan legislation that doubles funding for HRSA's Home Visiting Program over 5 years—the first expansion of the program in nearly 10 years.

Through this program, local organizations can provide home visits from nurses, social workers, and other trained health workers who work with families on early and ongoing engagement in prenatal care and postpartum support. They provide support on breastfeeding, safe sleep for babies, learning and communications practices that promote early language development, developmental screening, getting children ready to succeed in school, and connecting with key services and resources in the community—like affordable childcare or job and educational opportunities. The awards announced today reflect the first opportunity for states and jurisdictions to receive federal matching funds in addition to their base grants. Every single state and U.S. territory has seen an increase in funding to their home visiting program since the start of the Biden-Harris Administration.

HRSA also hosted the latest Enhancing Maternal Health Initiative state convening at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, to build on the Home Visiting Program announcement. It included women and families supported by HRSA programs, community-based organizations, community leaders, and HRSA-funded health care providers working to address maternal and infant health across the state of Michigan.

Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Deputy Secretary Andrea Palm announced $1.4 billion in funding for the HRSA AIDS Drug Assistance Program and related awards at the 2024 National Ryan White Conference on HIV Care & Treatment held August 20 – 23, in Washington, DC. More than 6,500 people participated in the conference, including Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program grant recipients; federal, national, state, and local partners and organizations; health care and service delivery providers; and people with HIV.

The Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program funds announced by Deputy Secretary Palm ensure that people with HIV who have low incomes receive lifesaving medication, quality HIV health care, and essential support services.

HRSA Administrator Johnson and HRSA Associate Administrator for the HIV/AIDS Bureau, Dr. Laura Cheever, also spoke during the opening plenary session, praising the providers, innovators, educators, and community leaders of the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program and underscoring the tremendous progress made in connecting people with HIV to lifesaving care. Additionally, HRSA HIV/AIDS Bureau Director Michael Kharfen led a plenary session on empowering communities featuring a panel of people with lived experience who shared their stories and discussed the important role of community engagement in ending the HIV epidemic.

On August 23, HRSA Office of Intergovernmental and External Affairs (IEA) Associate Administrator Antigone Dempsey and Region 9 Regional Administrator Valerie Gallo organized and led a session called: "Hear Your HIV History from Those Who Lived It – Bridging the Generations Through Storytelling" at HRSA's 2024 National Ryan White Conference on HIV Care and Treatment in Washington, DC. The session featured stories from people living with HIV during the 1980s and 1990s. The session highlighted some of the many challenges and losses from those years, but also how far the U.S. has come in addressing HIV. HRSA IEA staff also exhibited during the conference and engaged with attendees on regional HIV resources.

In total, the 2024 National Ryan White Conference, coordinated by HRSA's HIV/AIDS Bureau, featured more than 160 workshops, nearly 130 poster presentations, four plenary sessions, a special session with Ryan White's mother Jeanne White-Ginder, and several listening sessions. Additionally, the event included an exhibit hall with more than 40 organizations, include federal partners such as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, HHS' Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy, and HRSA's Office of Intergovernmental and External Affairs, Bureau of Primary Health Care, and Division of Independent Review.

On August 8, HRSA Administrator Johnson and Maternal and Child Health Bureau Associate Administrator Dr. Michael Warren visited Louisville, Kentucky, for a convening of the Enhancing Maternal Health Initiative. The event brought together state health officials and HRSA grantees from across Kentucky, including home visitors, Healthy Start providers, health center leaders, community health workers, rural health providers, and new mothers and fathers who shared their personal stories about how important HRSA programs were in supporting them and their babies throughout their pregnancy and parenting journeys.

During the event, a bipartisan group of state legislators involved in state-level legislation in Kentucky—the "Momnibus bill"—discussed how this work aligns with broader efforts to improve maternal health outcomes.

While in Louisville, Administrator Johnson and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Mandy Cohen visited a school-based service site of Family Health Centers to discuss back-to-school readiness, specifically addressing youth behavioral health, with clinical and school staff.

HRSA celebrated National Health Center Week from August 4 – 10. During the weeklong celebration:

• President Biden issued a proclamation recognizing National Health Center Week.
• Administrator Johnson, Bureau of Primary Health Care Associate Administrator Jim Macrae, and Dr. Meg Sullivan, Counselor to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, visited Neighborhood Health—a HRSA-funded health center in Alexandria, Virginia—to announce nearly $9 million in funding for 18 HRSA-funded health centers across the country to advance the Biden Cancer Moonshot mission.
• HRSA published 2023 Uniform Data System data showing that HRSA-funded health centers served more than 31 million patients, an increase of 2.7 million since 2020 and the highest number of patients in the program's nearly 60-year history.
• Staff from HRSA's Office of Intergovernmental and External Affairs (IEA) celebrated by visiting 90 health centers in 35 states and territories to honor the hard work of health centers across the country. They met with health center staff, leaders, and patients, participated in health fairs, shared moments for staff appreciation, and enjoyed community events to commemorate the week.

On August 26, Administrator Johnson participated in the Black Maternal Health Caucus 2024 Stakeholder Summit, organized by Caucus co-chairs Representatives Lauren Underwood (IL-14) and Alma Adams (NC-12), in Joliet, Illinois.

At the summit, Administrator Johnson spoke about HRSA's collaboration with other federal partners and partners in Congress on funding maternal health research, maternal depression screening and treatment, birth center expansions, and the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline (1-833-TLC-MAMA). She also highlighted key advances and investments in maternal health since 2019 as well as the need for a comprehensive federal effort to end the crisis.

HRSA leaders delivered remarks at the National Association of Community Health Centers' 2024 Community Health Institute and Exposition held in Atlanta, Georgia, on August 24 – 26.

In her remarks, Dr. Candice Chen, Acting HRSA Associate Administrator for the Bureau of Health Workforce, highlighted how HRSA's Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education Program helps communities grow their health workforce by training physicians and dentists in community-based settings with a focus on rural and underserved communities.

Deputy Associate Administrator for the Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC) Tonya Bowers praised HRSA-funded health centers for providing high-quality primary care to more 31 million patients as well as training opportunities to their communities. She and other leaders shared updates on BPHC's efforts to improve customer experience and enrich health center data. They also profiled how National Hypertension Control Initiative awardees dramatically improved hypertension control among their patients.

August 18 marked the 34th anniversary of the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program. In 1990, Congress passed the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act, creating the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program.

The Program was named after Indiana teen and AIDS advocate, Ryan White, who lost his life to AIDS in April 1990, four months before Congress passed the CARE Act. The Program was designed to improve the quality and availability of HIV care and treatment for low-income people with HIV.

Over the last 34 years, the Program has made important advances to improve the health of people with HIV. Today, the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program serves more than a half a million people—over half of the people diagnosed with HIV in the United States. Nearly 90% of clients receiving HIV medical care were virally suppressed in 2022, which means they cannot sexually transmit HIV to their partners and can live longer and healthier lives. Learn more about the Program's history.

HRSA IEA continues to host Grants 101 workshops across the country to reach new populations and promote HRSA funding opportunities, especially in rural and underserved communities.

• On August 14, HRSA IEA Region 6 (Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas) shared a HRSA overview and showcased HRSA resources at Representative Marc Veasey's (TX-33) annual grants seminar alongside other federal agencies in Arlington, Texas.
• On August 20, HRSA IEA Region 6 (Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas) hosted a Tribal Grants 101 Workshop during a pre-consultation educational workshop held prior to the HHS Region 6 Tribal Consultation in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
• On August 27 – 29, HRSA IEA Region 9 (Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, and the Pacific Islands) in collaboration with the California State Office of Rural Health hosted a grants workshop in Sacramento, California, to share information about applying for and managing HRSA grants with rural stakeholders.
• On August 28, HRSA IEA Region 5 (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin) presented during a grants seminar hosted by Representative Emilia Sykes (OH-34).
• On August 30, HRSA IEA Region 4 (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee) hosted a virtual Grants 101 Workshop for community-based organizations and partners in North Carolina.

During August, HRSA regional leaders engaged with state and territorial health leaders in Nevada, New Jersey (pictured), Minnesota, Mississippi, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Virginia to highlight HRSA's investments and to discuss HRSA funding opportunities and programs, including efforts to strengthen the health workforce concerns, meet the country's behavioral health needs, and address maternal health disparities. These meetings with state and territorial health officials demonstrate HRSA's ongoing commitment to working together with state and territorial leaders to address the country's most pressing health needs.

On August 20, HRSA IEA Region 4 (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee), in collaboration with the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH) and the Mississippi Department of Health, hosted a maternal health roundtable discussion in Mound Bayou, Mississippi.

The roundtable, held at Delta Health Center, one of the first federally supported health centers in the country, convened federal partners, HRSA grantees, and maternal health stakeholders across the Mississippi Delta to address the unique challenges within the region, including the rising cases of syphilis. Participants emphasized the impact of HRSA-funded initiatives, such as Healthy Start and the Telehealth Center of Excellence's Remote Patient Monitoring Program, in improving maternal health and access to care.