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irginia
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ummer
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TheVirginia HealthWorkforce Development Authority (VHWDA)
was established in 2010 as an independent organization to assess
health workforce needs in the Commonwealth and to establish plans
to identify, recruit and retain highly qualified health professionals
to successfully create and improve a competitive health workforce
throughout Virginia. In order to accomplish this, the VHWDA sets
priorities for the Area Health Education Center (AHEC) Program
including eight regional centers; promotes strategies for health
workforce pipeline development; supports collaborations between
communities, businesses, and social organizations to facilitate
recruitment and retention efforts; advocates for reducing the student
debt load of health professionals; identifies High Priority Target Areas
(HPTAs) within each region of the Commonwealth; and aims to create
and support innovative health workforce development models and best
practices through regional grantees.
The VHWDA, established in the Code of Virginia, has a
unique infrastructure. Created as a public body and as a political
subdivision of the Commonwealth, the VHWDA is constituted as a
public instrumentality, exercising public and essential governmental
functions with the power and purpose to provide for the health,
welfare, convenience, knowledge, benefit and prosperity of the
residents of Virginia. Additionally, the VHWDA coordinates and
serves as a resource to state, regional and local entities including the
Virginia Department of Health Professions HealthcareWorkforce Data
Center, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, the Joint
Commission on Health Care, the Secretaries of Health and Human
Services, Education, and Commerce and Trade, and the Southwest
Virginia Health Authority, among others.
The VHWDA is the recipient of the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration
(HRSA) Affordable Care Act State Health Care Workforce
Development Implementation Grants (#T55HP20285) by way of the
Health Workforce
Virginia Department of Health. This was the only grant of its type
awarded in the country. Of the $1,935,137 total award, one million
was allocated to community-based projects across the Commonwealth.
The VHWDA awarded 12 grantees for projects focused on pipeline
development, team-based care, health workforce and curriculum
development, telemedicine, distance learning programs and others.
Specific projects can be viewed at
Over the next 18 months, theVHWDA will be conducting regional
meetings across the Commonwealth to quantify surpluses and shortages
in health professions, identify best practices and successful workforce
models, and conduct health workforce needs assessments through
data-driven resources such as the VHWDA Community Health Impact
Portal (VCHIP):
Additionally, as requested by the Joint Commission on Health
Care, theVHWDA will convene a workgroup on the need for a training
program for graduate medical educators to teach residents requisite
medical skills to ensure that medical residents inVirginia are adequately
trained and to provide the framework and funding requirements for the
training program.
TheVHWDA is led by a 13-member Board of Directors appointed
as follows: two members of the House of Delegates; one member
of the Senate; seven nonlegislative citizen members, three of whom
shall be representatives of health professional educational or training
programs, three of whom shall be health professionals or employers
or representatives of health professionals, and one of who shall be a
representative of community health, to be appointed by the Governor;
and the Commissioner of Health or his/her designee, the Chancellor of
the Virginia Community College System or his/her designee and the
Director of the Department of Health Professions or his/her designee.
For additional information, please contact Erin E. Wittwer, Interim
Executive Director, at
or (804) 562-4928.
Website:
Donald L. Ratliff
VP–States Government Affairs
Alpha Natural Resources
One Alpha Place
•
Bristol, VA 24202
P.O. Box 16429
•
Bristol, VA 24209
276.619.4479 (office)
•
276.623.2891 (fax)
276.275.1423 (cell)
•
Virginia Press Women
, incorporated in 1973 to serve the
highest ideals in journalism is now proudly called….
Virginia Professional
Communicators
We are a diverse organization of professional communicators.
Membership is open tomen andwomen.Wework for print, radio,
television, colleges, government, corporations, non-profits, and
businesses. We are affiliated with the
National Federation of Press
Women
, fostering ideas, offering professional development, and
serving the public’s right-to-know.
Contact:
Bonnie Atwood
,
.
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