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Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program (GWEP)
93.969
The purpose of this program is to educate and train the health care and supportive care workforces to care for older adults by collaborating with community partners. GWEPs must maximize patient and family engagement to address care gaps and improve health outcomes for older adults by integrating geriatrics with primary care and other appropriate specialties using the Age-Friendly Health Systems Framework. The goal of this program is to educate and train the primary care and geriatrics workforces and other appropriate specialties to provide age-friendly and dementia-friendly care for older adults in integrated geriatrics and primary care sites/delivery systems. Program objectives are: 1) to develop reciprocal partnerships between academia, primary care sites/delivery systems (including nursing homes), and community organizations, to transform clinical training environments into integrated geriatrics and primary care sites/delivery systems that are age-friendly and dementia-friendly, 2) to provide interprofessional geriatrics clinical training and education to students, residents, fellows, faculty, and preceptors in Tribal, Tribal Organizations, Underserved and/or Rural (TTOUR) primary care sites/delivery systems with the intent to have them practice in these sites upon completion of their program, and 3) to establish and/or maintain education and training programs in TTOUR primary care sites/delivery systems that provide the supportive care workforce, direct care workers, and the primary care workforce with the knowledge and skills to improve the care of older adults, including persons living with dementia, by using innovative technology and methods.
This chart shows obligations for the program by fiscal year. All data for this chart was provided by the
administering agency and sourced from SAM.gov, USASpending.gov, and Treasury.gov.
For more information on each of these data sources, please see the
About the data page.
In Academic Year 2017-2018, GWEP grantees provided training for 49,381 students and fellows participating in a variety of geriatrics-focused degree programs, field placements, and fellowships. Of these trainees, 26,966 graduated or completed their training during the current academic year. GWEP grantees partnered with 316 health care delivery sites (e.g., hospitals, long-term care facilities, and academic institutions) to provide clinical training experiences to trainees. Approximately 43 percent of these sites were located in medically underserved communities, and 53 percent were situated in primary care settings. With regard to the continuing education of the current workforce, 212,444 faculty and practicing professionals participated in 1,564 unique continuing education courses offered by GWEP 120 grantees,
In Academic Year 2018-2019, GWEP grantees provided training for 39,585 students and fellows participating in a variety of geriatrics-focused degree programs, field placements, and fellowships. Of these trainees, 31,522 graduated or completed their training during the current academic year. GWEP grantees partnered with 307 health care delivery sites (e.g., hospitals, long-term care facilities, and academic institutions) to provide clinical training experiences to trainees. Approximately 56 percent of these sites were located in medically underserved communities, and 54 percent were primary care settings. With regard to the continuing education of the current workforce, 187,955 faculty and practicing professionals participated in 1,342 unique continuing education courses offered by GWEP grantees, 445 of which were specifically focused on Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia, just missing the target of 500. In addition, GWEP grantees developed or enhanced and implemented 4,313 different curricular activities. Most of these were new continuing education courses, academic courses, and workshops, which together reached 142,022 people. Finally, with regard to faculty development, results showed that GWEP grantees supported 372 different faculty-focused training programs and activities during the academic year, reaching 11,406 faculty-level trainees.
All 48 GWEP grantees have worked with primary care clinics, academic school of health professions, and community-based organizations to promote telehealth for home-bound older adults, nursing home residents, their families and their caregivers in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In Academic Year 2020-2021, GWEP awardees provided training for 69,518 students and fellows participating in a variety of geriatrics-focused degree programs, field placements, and fellowships. Of these trainees, 61,994 graduated or completed their training during this time frame.
GWEP awardees partnered with 262 health care delivery sites (e.g., hospitals, long-term care facilities, and academic institutions) to provide clinical training experiences to trainees. Approximately 52 percent of these sites were located in medically underserved communities, 48 percent were in primary care settings, and 29 percent were in rural areas. Sixty-three percent of sites offered COVID-19 related services, 61 percent offered telehealth services, and 30 percent provided integrated behavioral health services in a primary care setting. Awardees also developed or enhanced 5,967 courses, which reached over 720,000 students. Courses covered topics such as Alzheimer’s disease/dementia (23 percent), geriatric health (22 percent), and evidence-based practice in a clinical setting (7 percent). In addition, GWEP awardees supported health care professionals by providing over 4,500 hours of training across 1,857 continuing education courses. Nearly 520,000 health care professionals participated in GWEP-sponsored continuing education courses and approximately 16 percent of these professionals were employed in medically underserved communities. Thirty-nine percent of GWEP continuing education courses focused on Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia. Furthermore, GWEP awardees supported 483 faculty-focused training programs and activities, reaching 9,912 faculty-level trainees.
GWEP significantly outperformed nearly all of its targets this year, sponsoring 721 Alzheimer’s disease and dementia-related educational offerings (6.I.C.12), training 180,938 individuals through Alzheimer’s disease and dementia-related educational offerings (6.I.C.13), reaching 519,356 geriatrics professionals through continuing education programs (6.I.C.32), and providing 69,518 students with geriatric-focused training in settings across the care continuum (6.I.C.33). The targets were 150; 10,000; 50,000; and 10,000 respectively. Awardees also reached 721,148 trainees through curricula related to treating health problems in elderly individuals, exceeding the FY 2020 target (not depicted in the program activity table) of 140,000 trainees. This shift occurred because awardees moved to online courses for health care professionals and to telehealth-based training for students unable to access clinical training sites. Awardees also established new relationships with the nation’s 15,000+ nursing homes, in response to COVID-19’s impact on nursing homes and geriatric patients. These awardees leveraged the new delivery modes and relationships to expand their activities, such as offering online continuing education courses on Alzheimer’s disease and dementia to nursing home-based health care providers.
In FY 2021, the GWEP program received an additional $2 million in annual appropriations. The funding provided COVID-19 specific education and training to the nursing home workforce in order to improve care to nursing home residents.
GWEP awardees used COVID-19 supplemental funding to offer a variety of courses and continuing education classes to help students and professionals respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. With this supplemental funding, awardees developed or enhanced 979 courses for nearly 470,000 students, including 149 courses on geriatric health and 74 courses on telehealth in clinical settings. GWEP awardees also offered nearly 3,000 hours of continuing education across 668 classes, reaching over 360,000 individuals. Fifty-four percent of these trainings addressed issues related to Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Awardees also reached 4,501 faculty-level trainees through 129 faculty-focused training programs and activities.
In Academic Year (AY) 2021-2022, the most recent year for which performance data is available, GWEP trained over one million health care professionals, students, patients, and caregivers through 7,160 courses that awardees developed or enhanced with GWEP funding. GWEP’s geriatrics-related training included 1,889 continuing education courses, which reached 501,431 individuals and provided 4,825 hours of training. A total of 673 continuing education courses (36 percent) focused on Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias. This subset of courses trained 130,012 health care professionals, students, patients, and caregivers. GWEP’s trainees included 71,870 health professions students who received geriatric-focused training in settings across the care continuum. Forty-five percent of these trainees were underrepresented minorities and/or from disadvantaged backgrounds. By the end of the academic year, 64,152 students completed a GWEP program.
In Academic Year 2022 -2033, the most recent year with available data, there were 67,133 participants and 56,701 graduates in the GWEP.
Single Audit Applies (2 CFR Part 200 Subpart F):
For additional information on single audit requirements for this program, review the current Compliance Supplement.
OMB is working with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) and agency offices of inspectors general to include links to relevant oversight reports. This section will be updated once this information is made available.
