Biden's $100 Million Nursing Workforce Investment - Key Takeaways
The Biden-Harris Administration recently announced an investment of $100 million to grow the nursing workforce in the United States. The funding aims to train more registered nurses, nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives, and nursing faculty to meet the increasing demand for nurses and address the critical nursing shortage.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects the need for over 600,000 additional nurses by 2025 to meet patient demand. The $100 million investment will help fund training programs to prepare more nurses to fill this gap.
“Nurses are an essential part of our nation’s health care system,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. “Now more than ever, we need to double down on our investments in nurses who care for communities across the country.”
About The Investment
According to the HHS, the investment focuses on these key priorities:
- Helping Licensed Practical Nurses to become Registered Nurses: $8.7 million for the Nurse Education, Practice, Quality and Retention-Pathway to Registered Nurse Program
- Training Nurses Who Will Deliver Primary Care, Mental Health Care, and Maternal Health Care:
- $34.8 million through the Advanced Nursing Education Workforce Program
- $30 million through the Advanced Nursing Education-Nurse Practitioner Residency and Fellowship Program
- Addressing the Bottlenecks in Nurse Training by Supporting More Nurse Faculty: $26.5 million through the Nurse Faculty Loan Program
See the full list of grant recipients here
The American Nurse's Association Statement
On August 11, 2023, the ANA released a statement applauding the Biden Administration's investment in the nursing workforce.
“ANA stands ready to partner and collaborate around the key priorities and focus of the award efforts. It’s especially great to see that this action will deploy necessary training and support to advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs),” said ANA President Jennifer Mensik Kennedy, PhD, MBA, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN. “There isn’t a price tag that you can put on the clinical expertise, sincere humanity and vast value that nurses bring to the health and education of their patients and our communities. We are pleased with this action, but we will remain firm in urging Congress to address chronic systemic challenges that nurses are facing every day. Workplace violence, burnout, low wages, and the national nurse staffing crisis still demand immediate solutions.”
The “Nursing Shortage” Explained By Nurses
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects that the U.S. will need 3.3 million nurses by 2031.
The so-called nursing shortage is a complex issue. Not all nurses agree that there is indeed a true nursing shortage, rather, there is a shortage of nurses willing to work under current conditions. Nurse.org surveyed over 2,000 nurses for our Nurse.org State of Nursing Report 2023 -revealing that 71% of nurses believe that better and safer staffing ratios would have a great impact on the shortage. While 64% believe better pay will remedy the shortage.
