Image Courtesy of Getty Images / Thomas Barwick
The Biden-Harris administration invested in federal loan repayment assistance programs to help draw licensed healthcare workers to areas facing worker shortages.
Nevada faces a healthcare worker shortage, with many residents living in an area designated as a Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) for primary care and mental health services. But thanks to a funding boost by the Biden-Harris administration, more health care workers are now working in underserved, rural communities.
Lucia Sanchez is a Physician Assistant from Northern Nevada who completed a program at Community Health Alliance, a federally qualified healthcare center that manages six clinics in Reno and Sparks.
“I see patients who are uninsured, homeless, underinsured, Medicaid/Medicare, and those who have private insurance,” Sanchez said. “We treat pediatrics, acute and chronic conditions, women’s health, reproductive health, and provide preventive care and mental health services.”
“Our organization [is] vital in providing the appropriate care [our patients] need,” she added.
Sanchez participated in the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) Loan Repayment Program which provides loan repayment assistance to licensed health care workers who serve at a healthcare facility located in a HPSA for 2 years. There were 41 active participants in Nevada in 2023.
The Biden-Harris administration recently increased the award amount by 50% for primary care providers, with an additional boost for Spanish-proficient workers.
That funding surge is an intentional policy that came, in part, due to the devastating toll the pandemic took on healthcare workers.
“We would talk about frontline workers and people would be out on their balconies banging pots to thank them. Well, we need to thank them every day, not just during the height of a crisis, because the work they do is that essential,” Vice President Kamala Harris said earlier this year in support of health care workers. “We owe you, those workers, so much more than applauding you. We owe you more than that structurally and in our system.”
Learn more about health care worker programs in Nevada here.
Other successful programs in Nevada
In 2021, the Biden-Harris administration passed the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), which provided vital financial support to communities and families suffering from COVID-19 in Nevada. No Republicans voted in favor of the bill, and Vice President Kamala Harris had the tie breaking vote in the US Senate to pass it into law.
The Nevada Department of Health and Human Services dedicated $67 million in funds from the law to public health projects, including by funding a Nurse Apprenticeship Program that helped power almost 1000 nursing students to practice clinical skills while in school and work in rural areas.
The Nevada Health Workforce Pipeline Grant also used funds from the ARPA to grant a total of $4.8 million to nonprofits, community organizations, and medical schools to support new health care workers.
Finally, a pilot program was launched in Elko County to help rural families with behavioral/mental health crises in their communities
Learn more about Nevada ARPA benefits here.
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