Obama administration to inject $1 billion into healthcare workforce development

The Obama administration announced Monday a new grant program that will award up to $1 billion to innovative organizations that hire and train healthcare workers.

The “Health Care Innovation Challenge” will award grants next March to applicants who “implement the most compelling new ideas to deliver better health, improved care and lower costs to people enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, particularly those with the highest health care needs,” according to the administration’s announcement. The Challenge supports projects that are capable of beginning within six months, and projects that focus on “rapid workforce development” will be given priority when grants are awarded.

According to the Health Care Innovation Challenge website, one of the main objectives of the program is to identify new models of workforce development and deployment, along with related training and education.

Awards will be expected to range from approximately $1 million to $30 million over three years. Applications are open to providers, payers, local government, community-based organizations and particularly to public-private partnerships and multi-payer approaches. Each grantee project will be evaluated and monitored for measurable improvements in quality of care and savings generated, the administration said.

Applications are due January 27, 2012. Click here for more information.

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Health Care Innovation Challenge fact sheet