107th Congress

Fiscal Year (FY) 2002 Funding Recommendations For Nurse Education and Research

Message to Congress For Fiscal Year 2002 , Nursing recommends funding for Nurse Education Act programs at $103.7 million and for the National Institute of Nursing Research at $144 million.

The nursing profession is facing a staffing crisis. The problem is caused in part by a lack of young people entering the profession and an aging workforce. New admissions into nursing schools have dropped dramatically over the past six years, and the average age of registered nurses is 43 years. A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association estimates that by 2020 the number of nurses will fall nearly 20 percent below requirements. To address this impending public health crisis, we strongly support programs to bring new nurses into the workforce. The following initiatives will help to create a greater supply of registered nurses:

NURSING WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
The Nursing Workforce Development programs under the Nurse Education Act (NEA) provide competitive grants to schools of nursing, academic health centers, nursing centers, and state and local governments to strengthen programs that provide nurse education. Funding priority is given to programs that train nurses to work in underserved areas. In addition, the NEA provides funds directly to disadvantaged nursing students as well as to students in advanced practice programs.

A lack of funding and constraints within the current NEA funding methodology have prevented some programs, such as scholarships for disadvantaged nursing students, from being funded. A competitive grant cycle for nurse stipend and pre-entry programs will not be held this year due to a lack of funds. For FY 2001, the NEA was funded at $76.5 million. President Bush's proposed budget requests only an additional $5 for the NEA. ANA supports an increase in funding to $103.7 million.

THE NURSE LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM
The Nurse Loan Repayment Program provides for up to 85 percent repayment of student loans for nurses who agree to a service payback in nursing shortage areas such as Indian health, public hospital, migrant, rural or community health center or other public facility. Recent reports show that roughly fifty percent of all applications made for loan repayments are denied due to a lack of funds. For FY 2001, $2.279 million was appropriated for these awards -- the same amount of funding as the previous year. For FY 2002, President Bush's budget also level funds the program. ANA supports an increase in funding to $10 million.

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF NURSING RESEARCH
The National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR), one of the institutes at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), supports and conducts research and research training to reduce the burden of illness, to improve health-related quality of life, and to promote health and prevent disease. Providing nurses with the means to do research helps attract individuals into the profession, specifically for faculty training. Research programs supported by the NINR address a number of critical public health and patient care problems. The NINR receives the least funding of all the institutes at NIH. In FY 2001, the NINR was funded at $104 million. The Bush Administration recommends an increase in funding to $114 million. ANA supports an increase in funding to $144 million.

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