1.This Act may be cited as
the Nursing Education and Quality of
Health Care Act of 2006
.
2.Congress finds the following:
(1)The current
nursing workforce is the largest group of healthcare providers in the United
States.
(2)There will be a
need for 1,200,000 new and replacement nurses by 2014.
(3)Over 37,000
qualified applicants were turned away from entry-level nursing programs leading
to a baccalaureate degree in 2005. This number increases to 147,000 when all
schools of nursing are taken into account.
(4)Insufficient
numbers of faculty is the primary reason given by schools of nursing for not
accepting qualified applicants.
(5)The average age
of doctorally-prepared nurse faculty is almost 56 years old.
(6)Nurses are the
healthcare providers most likely to intercept medication errors before the
errors reach patients and result in adverse events.
(7)Employing a
greater proportion of more highly educated nurses may reduce the rates of
patient mortality.
3.Rural nurses
training grant programPart D
of title VIII of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 296p) is amended by
adding at the end the following:
832.Rural nurses
training grant program
(a)The Secretary shall award grants to, or enter into
contracts with, eligible entities for the purpose of educating nurses to serve
in rural areas.
(b)An eligible entity that receives a grant under this section
shall use grant funds to develop distance learning education by—
(1)providing
technology infrastructure to enhance or increase—
(A)broadband
connectivity; and
(B)education rooms
wired for the Internet;
(2)providing
technology infrastructure for a video conferencing network;
(3)recruiting,
training, and supporting community-based faculty for classroom and clinical
training; or
(4)recruiting and
supporting community-based sites for clinical training.
(c)Not
later than 1 year after the Secretary awards grants under subsection (a), and
annually thereafter, the Secretary, working with the Administrator of the
Health Resources and Services Administration and appropriate nursing agencies,
shall collect and perform analyses on the number of nurses in the United States
to track rural nursing trends.
(d)Not
later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall
generate an annual report about the status of the nursing workforce in the
United States and shall disseminate the report as the Secretary determines
appropriate.
(e)Authorization
of appropriationsThere are authorized to be appropriated to
carry out this section such sums as may be necessary for each of the fiscal
years 2007 through
2011.
.
4.Nurse faculty
development
(a)Nurse faculty
development programPart D of
title VIII of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 296p et seq.) is amended
by inserting after section 832 (as added by section 3) the following:
833.Nurse faculty
development program
(a)The Secretary, acting through the Administrator of the
Health Resources and Services Administration, shall award grants to eligible
entities for the establishment and operation of demonstration projects that
will expand the numbers of nurse faculty within schools of nursing,
including—
(1)developing
recruitment programs for nurses with academic credentials for faculty status
who are not teaching at the time;
(2)offering
scholarships that facilitate the return of registered nurses to a school of
nursing on a part-time basis for graduate education that leads to a career in
nursing education;
(3)providing
additional education to enable nurses with graduate degrees to serve as faculty
by obtaining teaching certificates;
(4)developing
accelerated doctoral programs that will facilitate entry in a nursing faculty
position;
(5)developing online
continuing education courses and practice teaching opportunities for nurse
faculty; and
(6)developing
research internships and fellowships for nursing students at academic medical
centers to foster interest in academic research.
(b)Not
later than 2 years after the date of enactment of the
Nursing Education and Quality of Health Care
Act of 2006, the Comptroller General of the United States shall
prepare and submit a report to Congress that—
(1)addresses the
causes of the nurse faculty shortage; and
(2)makes
recommendations to increase the numbers and the retention of nurse faculty
members.
(c)Authorization
of appropriationsThere are authorized to be appropriated to
carry out this section such sums as may be necessary for each of the fiscal
years 2007 through
2011.
.
(b)Section 811(f)(2) of the Public Health Service Act (42
U.S.C. 296j(f)(2)) is amended by striking the period at the end and inserting
, except that in the case of a nurse faculty shortage, the Secretary
may, in the Secretary's discretion, obligate more than 10 percent of such
traineeships for individuals in doctoral degree programs.
.
5.Developing the
rural nursing workforcePart C
of title VIII of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 296m) is amended by
adding at the end the following:
822.Developing the
rural nursing workforce
(a)The Secretary shall
award grants to, and enter into contracts with, eligible entities to increase
the nursing opportunities for individuals who reside in rural communities. The
activities funded under this section shall include—
(1)increasing and
expanding pipeline programs, including—
(A)mathematics and
science programs;
(B)Nurse Medical
Academy of Science and Health (MASH) Camp and other health career pipeline
programs for middle school and secondary school students tied to higher
education curricula;
(C)nurse mentor
programs that provide experience for secondary school students in clinical
settings to learn about the nursing profession;
(D)training for
middle school and secondary school guidance counselors; and
(E)programs that
attract nontraditional nursing students, including minorities and men;
(2)supporting a web-based healthcare workforce
development system that will be a database-driven website to connect employers,
educators, rural communities, and students with the nursing pipeline and
recruitment programs described in this section; and
(3)increasing the
program capacity of accelerated registered nurse programs that recruit
individuals with baccalaureate degrees in other fields into baccalaureate or
graduate degree nursing programs that serve rural communities, by—
(A)increasing the
number of faculty;
(B)increasing
clinical training sites; and
(C)providing
financial incentives, including loan forgiveness and tuition assistance for
nurses who practice in rural areas.
(b)Authorization
of appropriationsThere are authorized to be appropriated to
carry out this section such sums as may be necessary for each of the fiscal
years 2007 through
2011.
.
6.Nursing and the
quality of healthcareTitle
VIII of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 296 et seq.) is amended by
adding at the end the following:
JNursing and
improving healthcare
861.Linking
nursing education and Quality Outcomes Program
(a)The Secretary, in collaboration with the Administrator of
the Health Resources and Services Administration and the Director of the Agency
for Healthcare Research and Quality, shall award grants to entities that meet
the requirements of subsection (b) to enable the entities to carry out
demonstration projects that advance the education, delivery, or measurement of
quality and patient safety in nursing practice.
(b)To
be eligible to receive a demonstration project grant under this section, an
entity shall—
(1)be a school of
nursing, a nursing center, an academic health center, a State or local
government, or any other public or private nonprofit entity determined
appropriate by the Secretary;
(2)submit to the
Secretary an application in accordance with section 802;
(3)form a
partnership with 1 or more eligible entities; and
(4)submit a plan to
the Secretary that assures grant funds received under this section will be used
to support the implementation and evaluation of healthcare quality improvement
activities that include—
(A)with respect to
healthcare systems, activities relating to improving patient safety, timeliness
of care, effectiveness of care, equity and efficiency of care, and
patient-centeredness; or
(B)with respect to
patients, activities, including activities relating to staying healthy, getting
well, living with illness or disability, and coping with end of life
issues.
(c)In
awarding grants under subsection (a), the Secretary shall give priority to
entities that will carry out 1 or more of the following:
(1)Implementing
initiatives in professional nursing education to enhance patient safety efforts
through evidence-based practice and quality improvement strategies by—
(A)developing
partnerships between accredited schools of nursing and health care facilities,
as defined in section 801, to educate registered nurses in clinical leadership,
interdisciplinary team management, systems administration, outcomes and risk
management, and education, for implementation in multiple healthcare settings;
and
(B)providing
scholarships for registered professional nurses to pursue advanced nursing
education in accordance with subsection (a).
(2)Integrating
quality and safety competencies into nursing education programs by—
(A)disseminating
patient safety education content to a nurse faculty administrator to integrate
quality competencies into each school of nursing that are consistent with
technical standards that are developed or adopted by voluntary consensus
standards bodies under section 12(d) of the National Technology Transfer and
Advancement Act of 1995 (15 U.S.C. 272 note); and
(B)developing
ongoing web-based modules for continued nurse faculty education to bring
research evidence into practice not later than 2 years after receiving a grant
under this section; and
(3)provide
continuing education for practicing nurses, including—
(A)developing
web-based modules related to patient safety, including topics of
evidenced-based practice, professional communication, patient or
family-centered care, systems thinking, informatics, collaborative practice,
medication, and practice error; and
(B)developing
systems for the dissemination of continuing education through facility-based
staff development and orientation.
(d)The
Secretary shall award grants to entities described in subsection (b) to collect
data and study the potential benefits of basic and advanced nursing education
levels or certification status in the efforts to promote quality improvement
strategies and enhance patient outcomes and cost saving measures, by—
(1)compiling and
analyzing quality indicator data from existing databases and other sources to
evaluate relationships between basic and advanced nursing education levels or
certification status on nursing sensitive indicators and quality
outcomes;
(2)working in
consultation with State departments of health or other nonprofit patient safety
organizations; or
(3)demonstrating the
cost savings and sustainability of the demonstration projects.
(e)Not
later than 2 years after the date of enactment of the
Nursing Education and Quality of Health Care
Act of 2006, the Secretary shall submit a report to Congress on
the results of the program under this section.
(f)Authorization
of appropriationsThere are authorized to be appropriated to
carry out this section such sums as may be necessary for each of the fiscal
years 2007 through
2011.
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