II 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1575 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize a demonstration 

program to increase the number of doctorally-prepared nurse faculty. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 29, 2005 

Mr. BINGAMAN (for himself, Mr. CORNYN, Ms. MIKULSKI, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. 

JEFFORDS, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. REED, Mr. NELSON of Nebraska, Ms. 

CANTWELL, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. CORZINE, Ms. LANDRIEU, Mr. KERRY, Mr. 

LAUTENBERG, and Mr. INOUYE) introduced the following bill; which was 

read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, 

and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize a 

demonstration program to increase the number of 

doctorally-prepared nurse faculty. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Nurse Faculty Edu5 cation Act of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 
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1 (1) The Nurse Reinvestment Act (Public Law 

2 107–205) has helped to support students preparing 

3 to be nurse educators. Yet, nursing schools nation4 wide are forced to deny admission to individuals due 

5 to lack of qualified nurse faculty. 

6 (2) According to the February 2004 Monthly 

7 Labor Review of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 

8 more than 1,000,000 new and replacement nurses 

9 will be needed by 2012. 

10 (3) According to the American Association of 

11 Colleges of Nursing, in the 2004–2005 academic 

12 year, 29,425 individuals, or 35 percent of the quali13 fied applicants were not accepted into nursing bacca14 laureate programs. 2,748 potential nursing master’s 

15 students and over 200 nurses qualified for admission 

16 to doctoral programs were not accepted. Estimates 

17 from the National League of Nursing indicate that 

18 over 123,000 qualified applications could not be ac19 commodated in associate degree, diploma, and bac20 calaureate registered nurse educational programs in 

21 2004. 

22 (4) Seventy-six percent of schools report insuffi23 cient faculty as the primary reason for not accepting 

24 qualified applicants. The primary reasons for lack of 

25 faculty are lack of funds to hire new faculty, inabil-
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1 ity to identify, recruit and hire faculty in the current 

2 competitive job market, and lack of nursing faculty 

3 available in different geographic areas. 

4 (5) Despite the fact that 75 percent of grad5 uates of doctoral nursing program enter education 

6 roles (versus about 5 percent of graduates of nurs7 ing master’s programs), the 93 doctoral programs 

8 nationwide produce only 400 graduates. This annual 

9 graduation rate is insufficient to meet current needs 

10 for nurse faculty. In keeping with other professional 

11 academic disciplines, nurse faculty at colleges and 

12 universities are typically doctorally-prepared. 

13 (6) With the average age of nurse faculty at re14 tirement at 62.5 years of age and the average age 

15 of doctorally-prepared faculty currently at 53.5 

16 years, the health care system faces unprecedented 

17 workforce and health access challenges with current 

18 and future shortages of deans, nurse educators, and 

19 nurses. 

20 SEC. 3. AMENDMENT TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE 

21 ACT. 

22 Part D of title VIII of the Public Health Service Act 

23 (42 U.S.C. 296p et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

24 the following: 
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1 ‘‘SEC. 832. NURSE FACULTY EDUCATION. 

2 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary, acting 

3 through the Health Resources and Services Administra4 tion, shall establish a Nurse Faculty Education Program 

5 to ensure an adequate supply of nurse faculty through the 

6 awarding of grants to eligible entities to— 

7 ‘‘(1) provide support for the hiring of new fac8 ulty, the retaining of existing faculty, and the pur9 chase of educational resources; 

10 ‘‘(2) provide for increasing enrollment and 

11 graduation rates for students from doctoral pro12 grams; and 

13 ‘‘(3) assist graduates from the entity in serving 

14 as nurse faculty in schools of nursing; 

15 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to receive a grant 

16 under subsection (a), an entity shall— 

17 ‘‘(1) be a school of nursing that offers a doc18 toral degree in nursing in a State or territory; 

19 ‘‘(2) submit to the Secretary an application at 

20 such time, in such manner, and containing such in21 formation as the Secretary may require; 

22 ‘‘(3) develop and implement a plan in accord23 ance with subsection (c); 

24 ‘‘(4) agree to submit an annual report to the 

25 Secretary that includes updated information on the 
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1 doctoral program involved, including information 

2 with respect to— 

3 ‘‘(A) student enrollment; 

4 ‘‘(B) student retention; 

5 ‘‘(C) graduation rates; 

6 ‘‘(D) the number of graduates employed 

7 part-time or full-time in a nursing faculty posi8 tion; and 

9 ‘‘(E) retention in nursing faculty positions 

10 within 1 year and 2 years of employment; 

11 ‘‘(5) agree to permit the Secretary to make on12 site inspections, and to comply with the requests of 

13 the Secretary for information, to determine the ex14 tent to which the school is complying with the re15 quirements of this section; and 

16 ‘‘(6) meet such other requirements as deter17 mined appropriate by the Secretary. 

18 ‘‘(c) USE OF FUNDS.—Not later than 1 year after 

19 the receipt of a grant under this section, an entity shall 

20 develop and implement a plan for using amounts received 

21 under this grant in a manner that establishes not less than 

22 2 of the following: 

23 ‘‘(1) Partnering opportunities with practice and 

24 academic institutions to facilitate doctoral education 
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1 and research experiences that are mutually bene2 ficial. 

3 ‘‘(2) Partnering opportunities with educational 

4 institutions to facilitate the hiring of graduates from 

5 the entity into nurse faculty, prior to, and upon 

6 completion of the program. 

7 ‘‘(3) Partnering opportunities with nursing 

8 schools to place students into internship programs 

9 which provide hands-on opportunity to learn about 

10 the nurse faculty role. 

11 ‘‘(4) Cooperative education programs among 

12 schools of nursing to share use of technological re13 sources and distance learning technologies that serve 

14 rural students and underserved areas. 

15 ‘‘(5) Opportunities for minority and diverse stu16 dent populations (including aging nurses in clinical 

17 roles) interested in pursuing doctoral education. 

18 ‘‘(6) Pre-entry preparation opportunities includ19 ing programs that assist returning students in 

20 standardized test preparation, use of information 

21 technology, and the statistical tools necessary for 

22 program enrollment. 

23 ‘‘(7) A nurse faculty mentoring program. 
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1 ‘‘(8) A Registered Nurse baccalaureate to Ph. 

2 D. program to expedite the completion of a doctoral 

3 degree and entry to nurse faculty role. 

4 ‘‘(9) Career path opportunities for 2nd degree 

5 students to become nurse faculty. 

6 ‘‘(10) Marketing outreach activities to attract 

7 students committed to becoming nurse faculty. 

8 ‘‘(d) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this sec9 tion, the Secretary shall give priority to entities from 

10 States and territories that have a lower number of em11 ployed nurses per 100,000 population. 

12 ‘‘(e) NUMBER AND AMOUNT OF GRANTS.—Grants 

13 under this section shall be awarded as follows: 

14 ‘‘(1) In fiscal year 2006, the Secretary shall 

15 award 10 grants of $100,000 each. 

16 ‘‘(2) In fiscal year 2007, the Secretary shall 

17 award an additional 10 grants of $100,000 each and 

18 provide continued funding for the existing grantees 

19 under paragraph (1) in the amount of $100,000 

20 each. 

21 ‘‘(3) In fiscal year 2008, the Secretary shall 

22 award an additional 10 grants of $100,000 each and 

23 provide continued funding for the existing grantees 

24 under paragraphs (1) and (2) in the amount of 

25 $100,000 each. 
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1 ‘‘(4) In fiscal year 2009, the Secretary shall 

2 provide continued funding for each of the existing 

3 grantees under paragraphs (1) through (3) in the 

4 amount of $100,000 each. 

5 ‘‘(5) In fiscal year 2010, the Secretary shall 

6 provide continued funding for each of the existing 

7 grantees under paragraphs (1) through (3) in the 

8 amount of $100,000 each. 

9 ‘‘(f) LIMITATIONS.— 

10 ‘‘(1) PAYMENT.—Payments to an entity under 

11 a grant under this section shall be for a period of 

12 not to exceed 5 years. 

13 ‘‘(2) IMPROPER USE OF FUNDS.—An entity 

14 that fails to use amounts received under a grant 

15 under this section as provided for in subsection (c) 

16 shall, at the discretion of the Secretary, be required 

17 to remit to the Federal Government not less than 80 

18 percent of the amounts received under the grant. 

19 ‘‘(g) REPORTS.— 

20 ‘‘(1) EVALUATION.—The Secretary shall con21 duct an evaluation of the results of the activities car22 ried out under grants under this section. 

23 ‘‘(2) REPORTS.—Not later than 3 years after 

24 the date of the enactment of this section, the Sec25 retary shall submit to Congress an interim report on 
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1 the results of the evaluation conducted under para2 graph (1). Not later than 6 months after the end of 

3 the program under this section, the Secretary shall 

4 submit to Congress a final report on the results of 

5 such evaluation. 

6 ‘‘(h) STUDY.— 

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years 

8 after the date of the enactment of this section, the 

9 Comptroller General of the United States shall con10 duct a study and submit a report to Congress con11 cerning activities to increase participation in the 

12 nurse educator program under the section. 

13 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—The report under paragraph 

14 (1) shall include the following: 

15 ‘‘(A) An examination of the capacity of 

16 nursing schools to meet workforce needs on a 

17 nationwide basis. 

18 ‘‘(B) An analysis and discussion of sus19 tainability options for continuing programs be20 yond the initial funding period. 

21 ‘‘(C) An examination and understanding of 

22 the doctoral degree programs that are success23 ful in placing graduates as faculty in schools of 

24 nursing. 
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1 ‘‘(D) An analysis of program design under 

2 this section and the impact of such design on 

3 nurse faculty retention and workforce short4 ages. 

5 ‘‘(E) An analysis of compensation dispari6 ties between nursing clinical practitioners and 

7 nurse faculty and between higher education 

8 nurse faculty and higher education faculty over9 all. 

10 ‘‘(F) Recommendations to enhance faculty 

11 retention and the nursing workforce. 

12 ‘‘(i) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For the costs of carrying 

14 out this section (except the costs described in para15 graph (2), there are authorized to be appropriated 

16 $1,000,000 for fiscal year 2006, $2,000,000 for fis17 cal year 2007, and $3,000,000 for each of fiscal 

18 years 2008 through 2010. 

19 ‘‘(2) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—For the costs of 

20 administering this section, including the costs of 

21 evaluating the results of grants and submitting re22 ports to the Congress, there are authorized to be ap23 propriated such sums as may be necessary for each 

24 of fiscal years 2006 through 2010.’’. 

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