II 110th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 1628 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES June 14, 2007 Mr. Bingaman (for himself, Mr. Coleman, Mrs. Lincoln, Mr. Nelson of Nebraska, Mr. Kerry, and Ms. Collins) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize programs to increase the number of nurse faculty and to increase the domestic nursing and physical therapy workforce, and for other purposes.

1.

Short title; findings

(a)

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Nurse Faculty and Physical Therapist Education Act of 2007. (b)

Findings

Congress makes the following findings: (1)The Nurse Reinvestment Act (Public Law 107–205) has helped to support students preparing to be nurse educators. Yet, nursing schools nationwide are forced to deny admission to individuals seeking to become nurses and nurse educators due to the lack of qualified nurse faculty. (2)The American Association of Colleges of Nursing reported that 42,866 qualified applicants were denied admission to nursing baccalaureate and graduate programs in 2006, with faculty shortages identified as a major reason for turning away students. (3)Seventy-one percent of schools have reported insufficient faculty as the primary reason for not accepting qualified applicants. The primary reasons for lack of faculty are lack of funds to hire new faculty, inability to identify, recruit and hire faculty in the competitive job market as of May 2007, and lack of nursing faculty available in different geographic areas. (4)Despite the fact that in 2006, 52.4 percent of graduates of doctoral nursing programs enter education roles, the 103 doctoral programs nationwide produced only 437 graduates, which is only an additional 6 graduates from 2005. This annual graduation rate is insufficient to meet the needs for nurse faculty. In keeping with other professional academic disciplines, nurse faculty at colleges and universities are typically doctorally prepared. (5)The nursing faculty workforce is aging and will be retiring. (6)With the average retirement age of nurse faculty at 62.5 years of age, and the average age of doctorally prepared faculty, as of May 2007, that hold the rank of professor, associate professor, and assistant professor is 58.6, 55.8, and 51.6 years, respectively, the health care system faces unprecedented workforce and health access challenges with current and future shortages of deans, nurse educators, and nurses. (7)Research by the National League of Nursing indicates that by 2019 approximately 75 percent of the nursing faculty population (as of May 2007) is expected to retire. (8)A wave of nurses will be retiring from the profession in the near future. As of May 2007, the average age of a nurse in the United States is 46.8 years old. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that more than 1,200,000 new and replacement registered nurses will be needed by 2014. (9)By 2030, the number of adults age 65 and older is expected to double to 70,000,000, accounting for 20 percent of the population. As the population ages, the demand for nurses and nursing faculty will increase. (10)Despite the need for nurses to treat an aging population, few registered nurses in the United States are trained in geriatrics. Less than 1 percent of practicing nurses have a certification in geriatrics and 3 percent of advanced practice nurses specialize in geriatrics. (11)Specialized training in geriatrics is needed to treat older adults with multiple health conditions and improve health outcomes. Approximately 80 percent of Medicare beneficiaries have 1 chronic condition, more than 60 percent have 2 or more chronic conditions, and at least 10 percent have coexisting Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias that complicate their care and worsen health outcomes. Two-thirds of Medicare spending is attributed to 20 percent of beneficiaries who have 5 or more chronic conditions. Research indicates that older persons receiving care from nurses trained in geriatrics are less frequently readmitted to hospitals or transferred from nursing facilities to hospitals than those who did not receive care from a nurse trained in geriatrics. (12)The Department of Labor projected that the need for physical therapists would increase by 36.7 percent between 2004 and 2014. (13)The need for physical therapists is particularly acute rural and urban underserved areas, which have 3 to 4 times fewer physical therapists per capita than suburban areas.