Health Professions Education

In fiscal year 1996, Congress provided nearly $300 million for about 40 programs under titles VII and VIII of the Public Health Service Act. These programs, administered through the Department of Health and Human Services, provide direct student assistance, such as loans, as well as grants to institutions for expansion or maintenance of health professionals' education and training. Congress has expressed concern about whether these programs were effective in advancing three key goals--increasing the numbers of health care professionals, improving their distribution in areas with a shortage of health professionals, and adding minorities to their ranks. GAO testified that the effectiveness of title VII and VIII programs will remain difficult to measure as long as they are authorized to support a broad range of health care objectives without common goals, outcome measures, and reporting requirements. The Government Performance and Results Act and the "clustering" concept offer an opportunity to address these problems by providing the framework and flexibility to clarify the role of these programs and direct federal efforts to achieve the desired outcomes. However, unless steps are taken with a clear eye to resolving the problems, these developments could meet with little success.

GAO noted that: (1) the effectiveness of Title VII and VIII programs will remain difficult to measure as long as they are authorized to support a broad range of health care objectives without common goals, outcome measures, and reporting requirements; (2) the implementation of the Government Performance and Results Act and the "clustering" concept offer an opportunity to address these problems by providing the framework and flexibility to clarify the role of Title VII and VIII programs and direct federal efforts to achieve desired outcomes; and (3) however, unless steps are taken with a clear eye to addressing the problems, these developments could meet with little success.