HHS to Fund UT-San Antonio Research on Access to Care, Workforce Issues Along U.S.-Mexico Border
HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced a first-year award of
$250,000 to the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio,
the initial investment in a five-year cooperative agreement to establish a
Regional Center for Health Workforce Studies at the school. The new
regional center will look at how the health care workforce along the
U.S.-Mexico border and in the south central United States impacts residents'
access to health care.
"The new UT-San Antonio research center will help us develop effective
strategies for attracting the right mix of doctors, nurses and other health
care professionals to serve the people who live in the border region,"
Secretary Thompson said. "The grant is part of our broader commitment to
improving access to health care for children and families in this
underserved area."
The new regional center is part of the Border Health Initiative, led by the
department's Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), to improve
health care access for people in the U.S.-Mexico border region. In the past
four years, HRSA has invested $280 million to improve health care along the
border, including roughly $83 million in fiscal year 2001. Those resources
have provided residents with primary health care, maternal and child health
care services, HIV/AIDS care and other services, and also have supported
programs to train and place health professionals in the region.
The border region is characterized by high poverty, poor environmental
conditions and significant health challenges. Tuberculosis at the border,
for example, is six times the national rate; measles and mumps that could be
prevented by vaccine are twice the U.S. average. About 3 million of 11
million border residents have no health insurance. Many residents live in
unincorporated communities that lack running water, sewers, storm drainage
and electricity.
The new regional center at UT-San Antonio will assess some of the most
pressing health workforce issues in the region. These include examining
regional staffing levels for physicians, nurses, dentists, public health,
mental health and allied health professionals; placement of these
professionals throughout the region; training needs; and recruitment and
retention.
"The agreement recognizes the crisis in health care border residents face
and the role local researchers can play in improving conditions," HRSA
Acting Administrator Elizabeth M. Duke said. "The first step in improving
access to care in the region is to find out how many health care workers we
have, what disciplines they work in, and where they are located. Then we
can put together a strategy to encourage providers to work where the need
for their services is greatest."
Secretary Thompson also announced that HHS will renew competitive
cooperative agreements at the four existing regional centers -- the
University of California at San Francisco, the University of Illinois at
Chicago, the State University of New York at Albany, and the University of
Washington, Seattle -- that conduct workforce studies for much of the rest
of the United States. For more information, visit
http://bhpr.hrsa.gov/healthworkforce/ on the Web.
A HRSA fact sheet with more information about the Border Health Initiative
is available at http://newsroom.hrsa.gov/factsheets/borderhealth2001.htm.
In addition, HRSA is making copies of Diario de Salud, a diary for expectant
mothers who speak Spanish, with an updated vaccination chart. The diary was
developed to help expectant mothers have a healthy baby and presents
information about childbirth from conception through the age of 2. It
includes fill-in-the-blank forms that the mother can complete as her
pregnancy progresses. Copies are available by calling 1-888-ASK-HRSA.