Local nurse training programs are hopeful that new legislation will ease nursing shortages across the country.
U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) worked on passing the bill that President Biden signed into law in December.
The Technical Reset to Advance the Instruction of Nurses Act will help nursing schools recover from funding clawbacks that happened at the peak of the COVID pandemic. Senator Brown said the bill prevents potentially harmful funding cuts for nursing programs across the country, including Ohio.
Specifically, it will prohibit the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services from recouping payments made to hospital-based nursing programs.
“The more we can do to strengthen nursing schools and the more we can do to support hospital based training programs in Ohio, the more we can do to alleviate the existing nursing shortage and strengthen our health care workforce,” Senator Brown said. ”It means reliable funding to better prepare students for careers in nursing.”
One of the nursing schools to benefit from this law is Kettering College for Healthcare, based in the Dayton area. The US Department for Health and Human services has projected that the demand for registered nurses would be more than 3.6 million by 2030. The college hopes that with other nursing programs around the country, they can help meet that target.
Nate Brandstater, the president of Kettering College said the new legislation helps them focus on the overwhelming need for nursing graduates.
“It was in particular just remarkably helpful in in advocating for this legislation that has now shifted our all of our conversations and planning from retrenchment to make investment decisions,” Brandstater said.
