II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 446 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize capitation grants to 

increase the number of nursing faculty and students, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 31, 2007 

Mr. DURBIN 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 capitation grants to increase the number of nursing faculty 

and students, and for other purposes. 

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 Education, Ex5 pansion, and Development Act of 2007’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds as follows: 

8 (1) While the Nurse Reinvestment Act (Public 

9 Law 107–205) helped to increase applications to 

10 schools of nursing by 125 percent, schools of nursing 


bajohnson on PROD1PC69 with BILLS
2 

•S 446 IS

1 have been unable to accommodate the influx of in2 terested students because they have an insufficient 

3 number of nurse educators. It is estimated that— 

4 (A) in the 2006–2007 school year— 

5 (i) 66.6 percent of schools of nursing 

6 had from 1 to 18 vacant faculty positions; 

7 and 

8 (ii) an additional 16.7 percent of 

9 schools of nursing needed additional fac10 ulty, but lacked the resources needed to 

11 add more positions; and 

12 (B) 41,683 eligible candidates were denied 

13 admission to schools of nursing in 2005, pri14 marily due to an insufficient number of faculty 

15 members. 

16 (2) A growing number of nurses with doctoral 

17 degrees are choosing careers outside of education. 

18 Over the last few years, 22.5 percent of doctoral 

19 nursing graduates reported seeking employment out20 side the education profession. 

21 (3) In 2006 the average age of nurse faculty at 

22 retirement is 63.1 years. With the average age of 

23 doctorally-prepared nurse faculty at 54.7 years in 

24 2005, a wave of retirements is expected within the 

25 next 10 years. 


bajohnson on PROD1PC69 with BILLS
3 

•S 446 IS

1 (4) Master’s and doctoral programs in nursing 

2 are not producing a large enough pool of potential 

3 nurse educators to meet the projected demand for 

4 nurses over the next 10 years. While graduations 

5 from master’s and doctoral programs in nursing rose 

6 by 12.8 percent (or 1,369 graduates) and 13.1 per7 cent (or 56 graduates), respectively, in the 2005– 

8 2006 school year, projections still demonstrate a 

9 shortage of nurse faculty. Given current trends, 

10 there will be at least 2,616 unfilled faculty positions 

11 in 2012. 

12 (5) According to the February 2004 Monthly 

13 Labor Review of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 

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

15 will be needed by 2012. 

16 SEC. 3. CAPITATION GRANTS TO INCREASE THE NUMBER 

17 OF NURSING FACULTY AND STUDENTS. 

18 (a) GRANTS.—Part D of title VIII of the Public 

19 Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 296p) is amended by add20 ing at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘SEC. 832. CAPITATION GRANTS. 

22 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—For the purpose described in 

23 subsection (b), the Secretary, acting through the Health 

24 Resources and Services Administration, shall award a 

25 grant each fiscal year in an amount determined in accordVerDate Aug 31 2005 04:19 Feb 02, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S446.IS S446

bajohnson on PROD1PC69 with BILLS
4 

•S 446 IS

1 ance with subsection (c) to each eligible school of nursing 

2 that submits an application in accordance with this sec3 tion. 

4 ‘‘(b) PURPOSE.—A funding agreement for a grant 

5 under this section is that the eligible school of nursing 

6 involved will expend the grant to increase the number of 

7 nursing faculty and students at the school, including by 

8 hiring new faculty, retaining current faculty, purchasing 

9 educational equipment and audiovisual laboratories, en10 hancing clinical laboratories, repairing and expanding in11 frastructure, or recruiting students. 

12 ‘‘(c) GRANT COMPUTATION.— 

13 ‘‘(1) AMOUNT PER STUDENT.—Subject to para14 graph (2), the amount of a grant to an eligible 

15 school of nursing under this section for a fiscal year 

16 shall be the total of the following: 

17 ‘‘(A) $1,800 for each full-time or part-time 

18 student who is enrolled at the school in a grad19 uate program in nursing that— 

20 ‘‘(i) leads to a master’s degree, a doc21 toral degree, or an equivalent degree; and 

22 ‘‘(ii) prepares individuals to serve as 

23 faculty through additional course work in 

24 education and ensuring competency in an 

25 advanced practice area. 


bajohnson on PROD1PC69 with BILLS
5 

•S 446 IS

1 ‘‘(B) $1,405 for each full-time or part-time 

2 student who— 

3 ‘‘(i) is enrolled at the school in a pro4 gram in nursing leading to a bachelor of 

5 science degree, a bachelor of nursing de6 gree, a graduate degree in nursing if such 

7 program does not meet the requirements of 

8 subparagraph (A), or an equivalent degree; 

9 and 

10 ‘‘(ii) has not more than 3 years of 

11 academic credits remaining in the pro12 gram. 

13 ‘‘(C) $966 for each full-time or part-time 

14 student who is enrolled at the school in a pro15 gram in nursing leading to an associate degree 

16 in nursing or an equivalent degree. 

17 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—In calculating the amount 

18 of a grant to a school under paragraph (1), the Sec19 retary may not make a payment with respect to a 

20 particular student— 

21 ‘‘(A) for more than 2 fiscal years in the 

22 case of a student described in paragraph (1)(A) 

23 who is enrolled in a graduate program in nurs24 ing leading to a master’s degree or an equiva25 lent degree; 


bajohnson on PROD1PC69 with BILLS
6 

•S 446 IS

1 ‘‘(B) for more than 4 fiscal years in the 

2 case of a student described in paragraph (1)(A) 

3 who is enrolled in a graduate program in nurs4 ing leading to a doctoral degree or an equiva5 lent degree; 

6 ‘‘(C) for more than 3 fiscal years in the 

7 case of a student described in paragraph 

8 (1)(B); or 

9 ‘‘(D) for more than 2 fiscal years in the 

10 case of a student described in paragraph 

11 (1)(C). 

12 ‘‘(d) ELIGIBILITY.—For purposes of this section, the 

13 term ‘eligible school of nursing’ means a school of nursing 

14 that— 

15 ‘‘(1) is accredited by a nursing accrediting 

16 agency recognized by the Secretary of Education; 

17 ‘‘(2) has a passage rate on the National Council 

18 Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses of not 

19 less than 80 percent for each of the 3 school years 

20 preceding submission of the grant application; and 

21 ‘‘(3) has a graduation rate (based on the num22 ber of students in a class who graduate relative to, 

23 for a baccalaureate program, the number of students 

24 who were enrolled in the class at the beginning of 

25 junior year or, for an associate degree program, the 


bajohnson on PROD1PC69 with BILLS
7 

•S 446 IS

1 number of students who were enrolled in the class 

2 at the end of the first year) of not less than 80 per3 cent for each of the 3 school years preceding submis4 sion of the grant application. 

5 ‘‘(e) REQUIREMENTS.—The Secretary may award a 

6 grant under this section to an eligible school of nursing 

7 only if the school gives assurances satisfactory to the Sec8 retary that, for each school year for which the grant is 

9 awarded, the school will comply with the following: 

10 ‘‘(1) The school will maintain a passage rate on 

11 the National Council Licensure Examination for 

12 Registered Nurses of not less than 80 percent. 

13 ‘‘(2) The school will maintain a graduation rate 

14 (as described in subsection (d)(3)) of not less than 

15 80 percent. 

16 ‘‘(3)(A) Subject to subparagraphs (B) and (C), 

17 the first-year enrollment of full-time nursing stu18 dents in the school will exceed such enrollment for 

19 the preceding school year by 5 percent or 5 students, 

20 whichever is greater. 

21 ‘‘(B) Subparagraph (A) does not apply to the 

22 first school year for which a school receives a grant 

23 under this section. 


bajohnson on PROD1PC69 with BILLS
8 

•S 446 IS

1 ‘‘(C) With respect to any school year, the Sec2 retary may waive application of subparagraph (A) 

3 if— 

4 ‘‘(i) the physical facilities at the school in5 volved limit the school from enrolling additional 

6 students; or 

7 ‘‘(ii) the school has increased enrollment in 

8 the school (as described in subparagraph (A)) 

9 for each of the 2 preceding school years. 

10 ‘‘(4) Not later than 1 year after receipt of the 

11 grant, the school will formulate and implement a 

12 plan to accomplish at least 2 of the following: 

13 ‘‘(A) Establishing or significantly expand14 ing an accelerated baccalaureate degree nursing 

15 program designed to graduate new nurses in 12 

16 to 18 months. 

17 ‘‘(B) Establishing cooperative 

18 intradisciplinary education among schools of 

19 nursing with a view toward shared use of tech20 nological resources, including information tech21 nology. 

22 ‘‘(C) Establishing cooperative interdiscipli23 nary training between schools of nursing and 

24 schools of allied health, medicine, dentistry, os25 teopathy, optometry, podiatry, pharmacy, public 


bajohnson on PROD1PC69 with BILLS
9 

•S 446 IS

1 health, or veterinary medicine, including train2 ing for the use of the interdisciplinary team ap3 proach to the delivery of health services. 

4 ‘‘(D) Integrating core competencies on evi5 dence-based practice, quality improvements, and 

6 patient-centered care. 

7 ‘‘(E) Increasing admissions, enrollment, 

8 and retention of qualified individuals who are 

9 financially disadvantaged. 

10 ‘‘(F) Increasing enrollment of minority and 

11 diverse student populations. 

12 ‘‘(G) Increasing enrollment of new grad13 uate baccalaureate nursing students in graduate 

14 programs that educate nurse faculty members. 

15 ‘‘(H) Developing post-baccalaureate resi16 dency programs to prepare nurses for practice 

17 in specialty areas where nursing shortages are 

18 most severe. 

19 ‘‘(I) Increasing integration of geriatric con20 tent into the core curriculum. 

21 ‘‘(J) Partnering with economically dis22 advantaged communities to provide nursing 

23 education. 


bajohnson on PROD1PC69 with BILLS
10 

•S 446 IS

1 ‘‘(K) Expanding the ability of nurse man2 aged health centers to provide clinical education 

3 training sites to nursing students. 

4 ‘‘(5) The school will submit an annual report to 

5 the Secretary that includes updated information on 

6 the school with respect to student enrollment, stu7 dent retention, graduation rates, passage rates on 

8 the National Council Licensure Examination for 

9 Registered Nurses, the number of graduates em10 ployed as nursing faculty or nursing care providers 

11 within 12 months of graduation, and the number of 

12 students who are accepted into graduate programs 

13 for further nursing education. 

14 ‘‘(6) The school will allow the Secretary to 

15 make on-site inspections, and will comply with the 

16 Secretary’s requests for information, to determine 

17 the extent to which the school is complying with the 

18 requirements of this section. 

19 ‘‘(f) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—The Secretary shall 

20 evaluate the results of grants under this section and sub21 mit to the Congress— 

22 ‘‘(1) not later than 18 months after the date of 

23 the enactment of this section, an interim report on 

24 such results; and 


bajohnson on PROD1PC69 with BILLS
11 

•S 446 IS

1 ‘‘(2) not later than the end of fiscal year 2010, 

2 a final report on such results. 

3 ‘‘(g) APPLICATION.—To seek a grant under this sec4 tion, a school nursing shall submit an application to the 

5 Secretary at such time, in such manner, and containing 

6 such information and assurances as the Secretary may re7 quire. 

8 ‘‘(h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

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

10 out this section (except the costs described in para11 graph (2)), there are authorized to be appropriated 

12 $75,000,000 for fiscal year 2008, $85,000,000 for 

13 fiscal year 2009, and $95,000,000 for fiscal year 

14 2010. 

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

16 administering this section, including the costs of 

17 evaluating the results of grants and submitting re18 ports to the Congress, there are authorized to be ap19 propriated such sums as may be necessary for each 

20 of fiscal years 2008, 2009, and 2010.’’. 

21 (b) GAO STUDY.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

23 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comp24 troller General of the United States shall conduct a 

25 study and submit a report to the Congress on ways 


bajohnson on PROD1PC69 with BILLS
12 

•S 446 IS

1 to increase participation in the nurse faculty profes2 sion. 

3 (2) CONTENTS OF REPORT.—The report re4 quired by paragraph (1) shall include the following: 

5 (A) A discussion of the master’s degree 

6 and doctoral degree programs that are success7 ful in placing graduates as faculty in schools of 

8 nursing. 

9 (B) An examination of compensation dis10 parities throughout the nursing profession and 

11 compensation disparities between higher edu12 cation instructional faculty generally and higher 

13 education instructional nursing faculty. 

Æ 


bajohnson on PROD1PC69 with BILLS