An adequate nursing workforce is essential to health centers and their expected growth under health reform

Peter Shin, Jessica Sharac

Abstract


Community health centers serve as an important source of care to a patient population of 20.2 million patients that is largely low-income and insured by Medicaid or uninsured. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) allocated $11 billion in funds through 2015 to community health centers (CHCs) to grow their capacity. Nurses are essential to the ability of CHCs to provide care to a patient population at higher risk for chronic health problems. This article draws on federal CHC staffing data and CHC growth estimates to examine the nursing workforce challenges that will need to be overcome in delivering care to 20 million new patients.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5430/jnep.v4n1p129

Journal of Nursing Education and Practice

ISSN 1925-4040 (Print)   ISSN 1925-4059 (Online)

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