The Nurse Reinvestment Act, Public Law 107-205
The Nurse Reinvestment Act, Public Law 107-205
Nursing: Title VIII Program Legislator
Title I: Nurse Recruitment
- Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to promote the nursing profession through public service announcements. Permits the Secretary to make grants to support State and local advertising campaigns, excluding particular employment opportunities.
- Expands eligibility for the nursing loan repayment program to include service at any health care facility with a critical shortage of nurses. Restricts service to nonprofits after FY 2007.
- Directs the Secretary to provide nursing scholarships in exchange for at least two years of nursing services at facilities with a critical shortage. Makes such program discretionary after FY 2004.
- Permits part-time service if the aggregate service equals two full-time years.
- Treats such scholarships, for repayment purposes, as equivalent to those made under the National Health Service Corps Scholarship Program, except as specified.
- Grants preference according to financial need.
- Requires detailed, annual reports to Congress on the loan and scholarship programs, including numbers, demographics, and default rates.
- Leaves allocation of funds between the nursing loan and scholarship programs to the discretion of the Secretary.
Title II: Nurse Retention
- Authorizes the Secretary to award grants or contracts to schools of nursing or health care facilities to expand nursing opportunities:
- In education, through increased enrollment in four-year degree programs, internship and residency programs, or new technologies such as distance learning; and
- In practice, through care to underserved populations, care in noninstitutional settings or organized health care systems, and through developing cultural competencies. Makes career ladder programs and activities that enhance professional collaboration, communication, and decision-making eligible for a grant award.
- Directs the Secretary to award grants for geriatric care training programs.
- Authorizes the Secretary, acting through the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration, to establish a nursing loan fund to increase the number of qualified nursing faculty. Cancels up to 85 % of such loan according to a schedule of employment milestones.
- Requires the Comptroller General to study and report to Congress within four years on:
(1) National variations in nursing shortages;
(2) Any differences in nurse hiring practices between profit and nonprofit private entities because of the inclusion of for-profit private entities in the loan repayment program; and
(3) Whether the scholarship program increased applications to nursing schools.
- Authorizes appropriations for all programs for FY 2003 through 2007.
- Signed August 1, 2002
