Nursing Shortage Addressed by House and Senate Bills
January 11, 2002 - The House of Representatives and Senate Dec. 20 passed separate versions
of legislation intended to increase the number of nurses, nursing students,
and nursing school faculty over the next five years. The next step is
likely to be a conference committee for House and Senate legislators
to negotiate the differences between their bills.
The Senate's bill, "The Nurse Reinvestment Act" (NRA) (S.1864),
would create scholarships, stipends, and loan repayment programs for
nursing students and nurses pursuing additional clinical training or
graduate degrees. Upon graduation, some of these programs would require
an individual to work (for a specified length of time) in an area or
facility with a nursing shortage. The Senate bill would also authorize
funding for national, state, and local advertising campaigns that encourage
careers in nursing.
S. 1864 would establish grants for nursing schools, healthcare facilities,
and certain community-based partnerships to support continuing education
programs, internships, and specialty training for new and experienced
nurses. The bill would also create 2-year grants for nursing school/healthcare
facility partnerships to identify "best practices" and develop innovative
retention strategies. The grant awards would be based on a facility's
size, with large hospitals (over 400 beds) eligible for up to $600,000
in support.
In addition, the bill would create a two-year "National Commission
on the Recruitment and Retention of Nurses" to advise Congress regarding
long-term nurse retention and recruitment strategies.
The Senate bill was sponsored by Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.). Sens.
Mikulski and Tim Hutchinson (R-Ark.) had introduced an earlier nursing
bill in April 2001: "The Nursing Employment and Education Development
Act" (NEED) (S.
721). In November, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
Committee passed the NEED Act, as well as a bill introduced by Sen.
John Kerry (D-Mass.) (S.1597).
Many of the provisions in S.721 and S.1597 were included in the NRA.
Other NRA provisions had appeared in nursing bills that had been introduced
last fall by Sens. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) (S.1585)
and Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) (S.
1594).
The House-passed bill (also called "The Nurse Reinvestment Act") (H.R.
3487) was sponsored by Rep. Michael Bilirakis (R-Fla.). The bill
directs the HHS Secretary to develop and issue national public service
announcements (PSAs) that promote careers in nursing. It also creates
grants to support similar state and local campaigns. H.R. 3847 adds
new scholarship opportunities to the existing Public Health Service
Loan Repayment Program and expands eligibility to include private hospitals,
state/local health departments, ambulatory surgery centers, and other
types of facilities with critical nurse shortages. The bill also requests
studies by the General Accounting Office (GAO) regarding differences
between the hiring practices of non-profit and for-profit facilities
and the presence/extent of a nurse faculty shortage. If the GAO identifies
a shortage, the bill directs them to recommend incentives for faculty
development.
Information:
Christiane Mitchell, Senior Legislative Affairs Manager
AAMC Government Relations
cmitchell@aamc.org
(202) 828-0526
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