AAMC President and CEO David J. Skorton, MD, and AAMC Chief Public Policy Officer Danielle Turnipseed, JD, MHSA, MPP, issued a Sept. 22 statement expressing disappointment that legislation to reauthorize the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Title VII health professions and Title VIII nursing workforce development programs was not included in the Sept. 17 House Energy and Commerce Full Committee markup. This includes the Educating Medical Professionals and Optimizing Workforce Efficiency and Readiness (EMPOWER) for Health Act (H.R. 4262), which would reauthorize HRSA programs related to health professions education, and the Title VIII Nursing Workforce Reauthorization Act of 2025 (H.R. 3593/S. 1874), which would reauthorize the nursing workforce development programs. Both bills were supported and advanced out of the Health Subcommittee by voice vote earlier this month [refer to Washington Highlights, Sept. 12]. The programs were last reauthorized in 2020 with the CARES Act (P.L. 116-136, PDF) through the end of fiscal year 2025, Sept. 30.
The statement also reiterates the agreement across 67 national health care organizations regarding the importance of reauthorizing the Title VII and VIII programs, as outlined in the AAMC-led Aug. 19 community sign-on letter (PDF) [refer to Washington Highlights, Sept. 5].