Health Care Workforce: Federal Grants Supporting Mental Health

What GAO Found

Health professionals often work in demanding and stressful environments, which can affect their well-being and mental health. The COVID-19 pandemic led to new and worsening mental health conditions for many health professionals, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The health professional workforce includes over 17 million people working in clinical and non-clinical positions, according to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Clinical health professionals include physicians, nurses, and behavioral health professionals. Non-clinical health professionals include health care support personnel such as administrative staff.

GAO found there is a range in the prevalence of mental health conditions experienced by health professionals that varies by profession, according to literature. Commonly studied mental health conditions among health professionals include depression, anxiety, substance use disorder, and the related topic of suicide. GAO also reviewed literature on burnout, which is a common expression of mental health among health professionals. Examples of prevalence data from GAO's literature review include the following studies conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Depression and anxiet. An estimated 34 percent of health care workers reported experiencing symptoms of depression and 57 percent reported experiencing symptoms of anxiety in 2022, according to a CDC analysis of nationally representative generalizable data of health workers.
• Substance use disorder. Seven percent of nurse respondents reported substance use disorder from 2020 through 2021, according to a non-generalizable online survey administered to nurses.
• Burnout. An estimated 46 percent of health care workers reported experiencing burnout often or very often in 2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic, up from an estimated 32 percent in 2018, according to a CDC analysis of nationally representative data on health workers.

HHS officials identified three grant programs that specifically targeted mental health among health professionals. These grant programs provided $103.2 million in COVID-19 relief funding to 45 grant awardees (grantees), from calendar years 2022 through 2024. Grantees included organizations such as hospital systems and universities, among other entities. See table for characteristics of these three grant programs.

Characteristics of HHS Grant Programs Focused on Addressing Health Professional Mental Health, January 2022 through December 2024

Source: GAO analysis of Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Notice of Funding Opportunities and Grant Award Data | GAO-26-107951

Grantees conducted a variety of activities to support health professionals' mental health, including providing mental health screening and services and training individuals on resilience, according to analyses by the Technical Assistance Center (TAC), HHS data, and interviews with selected grantees.

To oversee the grant programs from calendar years 2022 through 2024, HHS reviewed annual reports submitted by grantees and conducted regular meetings with grantees, among other activities. HHS also contracted with an external evaluator to assess the programs' outcomes. These activities were designed to oversee the progress and performance of the grantees in meeting their goals and objectives.

Grantees reported that they have faced challenges implementing HHS grant programs. They also cite benefits of the grant programs on addressing mental health among health professionals, according to a 2024 and a 2025 interim analyses by the TAC. Examples of reported challenges were related to resources, organizational commitment to well-being, and stigma. Some grantees also reported benefits, such as higher job retention and reduced depression and anxiety of grant program participants as compared to non-participants, according to GAO analysis of data and two interim TAC analyses.

Why GAO Did This Study

The Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act includes a provision for GAO to review federal grant programs addressing mental health conditions and substance use disorder among health professionals. This report describes available information on the prevalence and severity of such conditions among health professionals from studies published from 2020 through February 2025, the most recent available at the time of our analysis; characteristics of three grant programs; and HHS's oversight of these grant programs, among other things.

For this report, GAO (1) conducted a literature review of 50 sources to identify information on prevalence and severity of mental health conditions and substance use disorders among health professionals; (2) reviewed information from HHS and grantees across the three grant programs, such as annual grantee performance reports and data; and (3) interviewed officials from HHS and representatives of six selected grantees and four stakeholder organizations, such as the American Nurses Association.

GAO provided a draft of this report to HHS. The Department provided technical comments, which we incorporated as appropriate.

For more information, contact Alyssa Hundrup at [email protected].