Sponsors (16)
Official title: Amend the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize certain nursing workforce development programs, and for other purposes.
Introduced May 22, 2025 by Jeff Merkley · Last progress May 22, 2025
The bill directs targeted federal investments to expand and modernize nursing education, faculty support, and workforce data capacity—helping train more and better‑prepared nurses and focus resources on underserved areas—but the measures are relatively modest, time‑limited, and risk reallocation, implementation uncertainty, and uneven benefits for smaller or rural programs.
Nursing students (including advanced practice students: NPs, nurse‑midwives, CRNAs, CNSs) will have greater access to funded traineeships and reduced out‑of‑pocket costs because the bill explicitly expands eligibility and allows fee funds to pay for clinical education and preceptors.
Nursing schools can expand capacity and modernize training—hiring faculty, supplementing salaries (short‑term), and purchasing simulation, AR/VR, telehealth and lab equipment—leading to more and better‑prepared nurses entering the workforce.
Underserved and shortage areas get prioritized support—at least 20% of certain funds go to low‑population states and programs target schools serving Health Professional Shortage Areas and vulnerable groups (e.g., sexual assault survivors), helping direct training capacity toward communities with greatest need.
Nursing schools, nurses, and related programs may face constrained resources because authorized funding is modest (e.g., $15M demonstration over five years) and some new activities may draw from the existing Title VIII funding pool, reducing money available for other programs.
Programs and funding are time‑limited and the bill shifts authorization windows (FY2027–FY2031), creating a risk of funding gaps or loss of salary supplements and other supports if Congress does not continue or bridge funding after the authorization period.
Smaller, rural, and less‑resourced programs may be disadvantaged because new allowable investments (AR/VR, telehealth, simulation) and matching/sustainability requirements favor institutions with existing capacity and may require local funds they cannot provide.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Reauthorizes and expands Title VIII nursing workforce programs, creates a nurse faculty salary demonstration, adds a workforce data pilot, broadens training resources, and raises FY2027–FY2031 authorization levels.
Expands and reauthorizes federal Title VIII nursing workforce programs by broadening eligible advanced nursing traineeships, adding new technology and clinical education priorities, creating a Nurse Faculty Demonstration Program to supplement faculty salaries, and establishing a state and regional nursing workforce center data pilot. It raises and extends the program authorization funding levels for a new five-year window (FY2027–FY2031) and makes several technical and definitional updates to clarify accreditation and allowable uses of fees. The bill aims to increase nursing student capacity, strengthen faculty recruitment and retention through temporary salary supplements, support modern clinical education (simulation, telehealth, AR), and collect regional workforce data to inform planning. No specific appropriation amounts for the new pilot are provided in the text excerpt; the bill raises the overall authorization ceilings for covered Title VIII parts for FY2027–FY2031.