Newswise — WASHINGTON, DC: December 9, 2015 – AACN's President and CEO Deborah E. Trautman presented testimony this morning before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health on the need to reauthorize Title VIII Nursing Workforce Development programs. Dr. Trautman was invited to testify on behalf of academic nursing to underscore the impact Title VIII programs has on sustaining the nursing workforce, including the supply of nurse faculty, researchers, and advanced practice clinicians. In her testimony, Dr. Trautman stated: "Healthcare delivery models are not static. Neither is nursing education. This legislation would modernize the Title VIII Nursing Workforce Development programs, thus creating alignment with transformational efforts underway in nursing and health care. With over three-million licensed providers, registered nurses are the largest healthcare workforce in America and essential members of the healthcare team. As we continue to ensure that all communities have access to care, it is essential that the Title VIII Nursing Workforce Development programs be reauthorized. This will ensure a continued pipeline of support for the providers who spend the most time with patients— nurses." For over 50 years, the Nursing Workforce Development programs (Title VIII of the Public Health Service Act) have supported our nation's nursing students, faculty, academic institutions, and patients. As the largest dedicated source of federal funding for nursing education, Title VIII programs provide dollars for loan repayment, scholarship, and other activities that support the recruitment, retention, and distribution of the nursing pipeline.
Introduced by House Nursing Caucus Co-Chairs Reps. Lois Capps (D-CA) and David Joyce (R-OH), the Title VIII Nursing Workforce Reauthorization Act (H.R. 2713) would reauthorize the programs and propose a set of minor technical changes to modernize them and create sustainability through FY 2020. For details on AACN's work to advance this legislation, click here.
The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) is the national voice for university and four-year college education programs in nursing. Representing more than 780 member schools of nursing at public and private institutions nationwide, AACN's educational, research, governmental advocacy, data collection, publications, and other programs work to establish quality standards for bachelor's- and graduate-degree nursing education, assist deans and directors to implement those standards, influence the nursing profession to improve health care, and promote public support of baccalaureate and graduate nursing education, research, and practice. www.aacn.nche.edu
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