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Public health briefing: SHARP increase, COVID funds winding down, department provides HMIS technical assistance
Summary
The Department of Health requested $1.65 million for the SHARP recruitment program, reported $139 million in historical COVID funding with $35 million unobligated in public health, and described technical assistance for homelessness data integrations tied to HMIS.
The House Finance Department of Health subcommittee was briefed on several public health budget and program items, including an increase for the SHARP recruitment program and the status of COVID‑era funds.
Assistant Commissioner Pam Halloran described a FY26 request of $1,650,000 in general fund program receipts for the Strengthening Health Care Access Recruitment Program (SHARP), a program that reimburses educational expenses under HRSA grants and that the department says supports rural placements. Halloran told the subcommittee that of 169 SHARP contracts issued in FY23, “69% of those were in rural locations.”
Halloran and staff also summarized COVID‑era appropriations to public health: “the documentation we have is at a $139,000,000 in COVID monies were issued to the Department of Health,” Halloran said, and the public health division “is currently sitting on an unobligated balance of 35,000,000,” some of which the division expects to obligate for lab and data modernization work.
On homelessness data, Dr. Robert Lawrence, the department’s chief medical officer, described the Homelessness Management Information System (HMIS) as a third‑party system owned by the continuums of care; the department said it provided technical assistance and data integrations to support communities and that ongoing conversations remain about the system’s future role.
Public health’s FY26 budget was presented as about $151,000,000 (a large federal decrease relative to FY25 driven by the conclusion of multiyear COVID appropriations), with a small UGF change. Committee members asked for more detail on what COVID funds supported; Halloran said public health had prioritized lab improvements and data modernization and that most remaining funds are obligated to planned projects.
No formal vote occurred during the briefing; staff noted the division will give further detail when it appears before the subcommittee.
