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ExpectMore.govExpectMore.gov home pageEXPECT FEDERAL PROGRAMS TO PERFORM WELL, AND BETTER EVERY YEAR.
 
Program Assessment

Program

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Health Professions

The Health Professions program provides grants to academic institutions to help meet the costs of training and educating students as nurses, doctors, and dentists and other health professionals. It also gives additional support to minority and low income students and faculty.

Rating

What This Rating Means

NOT PERFORMING
Ineffective

Programs receiving this rating are not using your tax dollars effectively. Ineffective programs have been unable to achieve results due to a lack of clarity regarding the program's purpose or goals, poor management, or some other significant weakness.
  • There is disagreement regarding the purpose of the program. A clear and focused purpose is not found in the authorizing legislation, external views, and program documents. For example, the agency believes the purpose is to address the failure of the market to distribute health providers to all areas of the country. Others believe the purpose is to primarily help rural areas or schools.
  • While the program is managed well overall, it has not regularly used performance data to improve program outcomes. The Government Accountability Office noted in 1997 that effectiveness has not been shown and impact will be difficult to measure without common grantee goals, outcome measures, and reporting. The program has adopted new performance benchmarks, but lacks data to demonstrate progress.
  • External data indicate the impact of the program may be limited. One study found that only 1.5% of physicians trained by institutions receiving a family medicine training grant provided health care in areas with a physician shortage, compared to 1.1% of physicians trained by other institutions. In 2002, an expert panel recommended increased emphasis on agency activities to support basic nursing.

Improvement Plan

About Improvement Plans

We are taking the following actions to improve the performance of the program:

  • Establishing common programmatic goals and developing new measures that hold grantees accountable for program results from program activities.

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