February 16, 2001
Nursing Shortage Addressed at Hearing and Briefing
The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee on Aging held a hearing Feb. 13 to address the current nursing shortage and its impact on the health care delivery system. Witnesses representing nurses, colleges of nursing, hospitals, and a state health department warned members that this problem will intensify as Baby Boomers retire and put an additional strain on the health care system. Witnesses testified that dissatisfaction with their working conditions, burn out, and low salaries are causing nurses to leave the profession.
Subcommittee Chairman Tim Hutchinson (R-Ark.) opened the hearing by recognizing a shortage has hit the nurse workforce as a whole and limited the number of nurses with experience in critical care, labor and delivery, and trauma care. He cited recently released data from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Bureau of Health Professions' National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses that 40 percent of RNs are projected to be over the age of 50 by 2010. Coupled with an aging population, it is expected that by the year 2020 the demand for nursing services is expected to exceed supply by 20 percent.
Ranking Member Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) added that there are no nurses in the pipeline to avoid a shortage crisis, noting that there are no waiting lists for nursing schools or scholarships in Maryland. Sen. Hutchinson stated a bipartisan approach is necessary and said he plans to introduce legislation in the next few weeks focused on recruitment, training and education initiatives, and faculty development
Speaking at a Feb. 14 forum on the nursing workforce, Sens. Jim Jeffords (R-Vt.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.), members of the Senate Finance Committee, outlined the bill they plan to introduce in the next week or so to address the shortage. Their bill, "The Nurse Reinvestment Act," will include provisions to:
- recruit students, with a focus on minorities, into the profession;
- authorize a new program, the National Nurse Service Corps, modeled after the National Health Service Corps, that will offer scholarships and loan repayments to nurses who agree to serve in underserved areas;
- reauthorize the Medicaid match for nurse education and training in nursing homes; and
- provide a tax break for individuals and institutions involved in nursing education and training. Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.), a certified RN, also plans to introduce legislation with similar provisions and stated her intention to request increased funding for Title VIII nursing and loan repayment programs.
The Bureau of Health Professions officially released the preliminary findings from the 2000 National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses at the forum. The survey is the most extensive and comprehensive source of statistics on registered nurses with current licenses to practice in the United States. A complete report is expected to be released in Spring 2001. HRSA Administrator Claude Earl Fox, M.D., M.P.H., stated that the survey reflects the lowest rate of growth since the survey began over 20 years ago. The rate of nurses entering the workforce was just 4.1 percent between 1996 and 2000, down from 14.2 percent growth between 1992 and 1996.
Information: Erica Froyd, AAMC Office of Governmental Relations, 202-828-0525.
