The Center for Health Workforce Development in Tennessee

President Bush recently signed the Nurse Reinvestment Act into law. The act creates a nurse corps scholarship program and extends the nurse loan repayment program for nursing education. It also will provide public serviceannouncements to recruit and promote nursing careers, and make grants available to improve nurse education, practice and retention.

The Nurse Reinvestment Act focuses on two categories: recruitment and retention. For recruitment, the act calls for public service announcements encouraging people to enter the field. It also provides money for a loan repayment and scholarship program.

For retention, the act gives the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) the ability to award grants to improve nurse education, practice and retention, including internships and residency programs, career ladders, and basic retention improvement.

Questions or comments on this legislation should be directed to Mike Dietrich, Tennessee Hospital Association, at 615-256-8240, mdietrich@tha.com.

Title I: Nurse Recruitment
Public Service Announcements

Requires the Secretary to develop and issue public service announcements that advertise and promote the nursing profession or to award grants to states for these purposes.

Loan Repayment and Scholarship Program

Expands a program to repay educational loans taken out by nurses and creates a new scholarship program for individuals pursuing a nursing degree.

To qualify for either program, nurses would have to agree to work at least 2 years at a facility with a critical shortage of nurses.

Until 2007, nurses could satisfy their service commitment under the loan repayment and scholarship programs by serving in a for-profit entity.

Title II: Nurse Retention

Enables the Secretary to award grants to improve nurse education, practice, and retention. The bill would allow the Secretary to award grants for:

Internships and residency programs in order to encourage mentoring and the development of specialties.

Career ladders in order to promote career advancement for nursing personnel, including certified nurse assistants.

Improving retention by enhancing collaboration among nurses and other health care professionals and by promoting nurse involvement in organizational and clinical decision-making.

Geriatric Education

Creates a new program that allows the Secretary to award grants to train and educate individuals in providing geriatric care for the elderly.

Nurse Faculty Loan Program

Allows the Secretary to establish loan cancellation programs for students in advanced degree programs who agree to serve as a faculty member at a school of nursing.

GAO Report

Requires the GAO to study the nurse shortage in different types of facilities and make recommendations to Congress.

Requires the GAO to study hiring differences between non-profit and for-profit hospitals.