California Endowment To Invest $90M To Boost Health Care Workforce
On Tuesday, The California Endowment announced that it will invest $90 million over four years to expand California's health care workforce so that the state can accommodate millions of residents who will gain insurance under the Affordable Care Act, the Sacramento Business Journal reports.
Endowment's Goals
The investment is part of The California Endowment's 10-year "Health Happens Here" campaign to help build healthy communities by increasing access to healthy food and supporting healthy environmental conditions, among other efforts.
Anthony Iton -- senior vice president of healthy communities at the organization -- said it is clear that the ACA's goals of expanded health coverage, disease prevention and population health "can only be fully achieved if there is an increased and appropriately trained health workforce that reflects its diverse population" (Robertson, Sacramento Business Journal, 3/19).
Investment Details
The $90 million investment will include:
- $21 million for training to increase the number of health professionals prepared to work in medically underserved areas;
- $15 million to strengthen educational programs that aim to boost health care career opportunities for young people;
- $14 million in 2013-2014, $9 million in 2014-2015 and $8 million in 2015-2016 for medical student scholarships and loan repayment programs for health care workers in medically underserved areas;
- $10 million for new career advancement programs for health care workers;
- $8 million for community college health career training programs that support minority students;
- $3 million to help clinics become teaching facilities; and
- $2 million to support workforce pilot projects to boost new practice models and new classes of health care workers (The California Endowment release, 3/18).