Acute Nursing Shortage in US

The American Health Care Association (AHCA) and the National Center for Assisted Living (NCAL) praised Senators Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and Susan Collins (R-ME) for their continued leadership in passing an amendment in the U.S. Senate to increase funding for the Nurse Reinvestment Act and other key Title VIII nursing workforce development programs by $50 million, thereby bringing total funding for these efforts to almost $163 million.

“We commend Senators Mikulski and Collins for their hard work in achieving this significant legislative victory. Their efforts will help boost our depleted national nursing workforce,” stated Charles H. Roadman II, MD, President and CEO of AHCA/NCAL. “Seniors and the disabled throughout the nation will benefit from the Senators’ effort because it will help revitalize America’s nursing workforce for long term, and improve the quality of care provided to patients. This is a tremendous bipartisan achievement, and the next step is to ensure the bill as amended remains in Conference.”

The amendment introduced by Senators Mikulski and Susan Collins (R-ME) significantly increases federal funding for the Nurse Reinvestment Act and other nursing workforce development programs to recruit and retain nurses. Specifically, the amendment increases federal funding for scholarship and loan repayment programs for nurses who work in facilities with a critical shortage of nurses. The amendment would also cancel education loans for nurses who agree to teach at schools of nursing.

Dr. Roadman noted that a recent national study by AHCA examining the vacancy rates in the nation’s nursing homes finds almost 100,000 health care professionals are immediately needed to fill key nursing jobs across the United States.#

The complete AHCA nurse staffing analysis, which also includes regional and state-specific data on turnover and vacancy rates, can be accessed at www.ahca.org.