Exciting news: ACU Board Member Shelley Spires, CEO of Albany Area Primary Health Care, provided live testimony on behalf of ACU on Thursday, May 20, at 10:30 a.m. ET before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension (HELP) Subcommittee on Primary Health and Retirement Security! The hearing, “A Dire Shortage and Getting Worse: Solving the Crisis in the Health Care Workforce,” was intended to inform the committee on the realities of working in underserved communities, of providing care to underserved populations, and of the many challenges to recruiting and retaining clinicians to work in underserved communities.
Watch Live Testimony from ACU Board Member Shelley Spires
Watch the event below: Ms. Spires represented the Association of Clinicians for the Underserved’s work and mission well as she spoke about these issues and the vital importance of the National Health Service Corps in addressing our nation’s clinical workforce shortage. This is particularly critical as the Association of American Medical Colleges recently predicted a shortage of up to 139,000 physicians by 2033 and a shortage of 55,200 physicians for primary care alone. While these projections assume underserved populations will continue to be underserved, the numbers could be worse if more Americans get access to care they desperately need.
Learn More About the National Health Service Corps
Since its inception in 1972, the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) has worked to build healthy communities by placing health care providers in underserved areas of every state and territory of the United States. The Association of Clinicians for the Underserved is leading the effort to protect and expand this vital program to increase access and quality of care for those who need it most. Learn more about the NHSC and join us as an advocate!
