October 19, 2001

HRSA Announces Reorganization of Bureau of Health Professions

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) announced in an Oct. 15 Federal Register notice [66 FR 52421] the new structure of the Bureau of Health Professions, which administers the Title VII and VIII health professions and nursing training programs and the National Health Service Corps (NHSC). These changes follow the transfer of the NHSC, its scholarship and loan repayment division, and the Shortage Designation Division to the Bureau of Health Professions [see Washington Highlights, July 27].

Most notably, the reorganization decreases the number of divisions and offices within the Bureau from 17 to 10. Some existing divisions are deleted, but no programs are eliminated:

• Division of Interdisciplinary and Community Based Programs is removed and replaced with the Division of State, Community and Public Health, which will house the Area Health Education Center (AHEC) and Health Education and Training Center (HETC) programs; geriatric, allied, and rural health programs; and public health training programs.
• Division of Health Professions Diversity is eliminated and the Health Careers Opportunities Program (HCOP), Centers of Excellence (COE), Faculty Loan Repayment, Scholarships for Disadvantaged Students (SDS) and all other student assistance programs, formerly under the Division of Student Assistance, are moved into the new Division for Health Careers Development to be headed by Henry Lopez, formerly the branch chief of NHSC outreach and recruitment.
  
• The Division of National Health Service Corps includes the NHSC, the NHSC scholarship and loan repayment program, and the shortage designation division.
  
• The nursing loan programs are moved in the Division of Nursing.

Additionally, communications and legislative functions throughout the agency will be moved into the Office of Administrator, and the Office for the Advancement of Telehealth and the Center for Quality are being moved into the HIV/AIDS Bureau.

At an Oct. 16 meeting with the Health Professions and Nursing Education Coalition (HPNEC), HRSA Acting Administrator Betty James Duke, Ph.D., and Bureau of Health Professions Associate Administrator Sam Shekar, M.D., M.P.H., outlined these changes and emphasized the administration's continued commitment to improving the quality, distribution, and diversity of health professionals. They noted that the new structure will refocus the activities of the Bureau to reflect its mission and the presidential initiatives, including increasing the size of the NHSC.

Information: Erica Froyd, AAMC Office of Governmental Relations, 202-828-0525.