I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2184 
To provide for a study by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy 
of Sciences to identify constraints encountered by schools of nursing 
in admitting and graduating the number of nurses sufficient to meet 
the health care needs of the United States, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 5, 2005 
Mr. HOLT introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To provide for a study by the Institute of Medicine of the 
National Academy of Sciences to identify constraints en-
countered by schools of nursing in admitting and grad-
uating the number of nurses sufficient to meet the health 
care needs of the United States, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Nursing School Capac-
ity Act of 2005’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds as follows:
(1) Researchers in the field of public health 
have identified the need for a national study to iden-
tify constraints encountered by schools of nursing in 
graduating the number of nurses sufficient to meet 
the health care needs of the United States. 
(2) The shortage of qualified registered nurses 
has adversely affected the health care system of the 
United States. 
(3) Individual States have had varying degrees 
of success with programs designed to increase the 
recruitment and retention of nurses. 
(4) Schools of nursing have been unable to pro-
vide a sufficient number of qualified graduates to 
meet the workforce needs. 
(5) Many nurses are approaching the age of re-
tirement, and the problem worsens each year. 
(6) In 2004, an estimated 125,000 applications 
from qualified applicants were rejected by schools of 
nursing, due to a shortage of faculty and a lack of 
capacity for additional students. 
SEC. 3. STUDY WITH RESPECT TO CONSTRAINTS WITH RE-
SPECT TO SCHOOLS OF NURSING. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 
Human Services shall request the Institute of Medicine 
of the National Academy of Sciences to enter into an
agreement under which the Institute conducts a study for 
the purpose of— 
(1) identifying constraints encountered by 
schools of nursing in admitting and graduating the 
number of registered nurses necessary to ensure pa-
tient safety and meet the need for quality assurance 
in the provision of health care; and 
(2) developing recommendations to alleviate the 
constraints on a short-term and long-term basis. 
(b) CERTAIN COMPONENTS.—The Secretary shall en-
sure that the agreement under subsection (a) provides 
that the study under such subsection will include informa-
tion on the following: 
(1) The trends in applications for attendance at 
schools of nursing that are relevant to the purpose 
described in such subsection, including trends re-
garding applicants who are accepted for enrollment 
and applicants who are not accepted, particularly 
qualified applicants who are not accepted. 
(2) The number and demographic characteris-
tics of entry-level and graduate students currently 
enrolled in schools of nursing, the retention rates at 
the schools, and the number of recent graduates 
from the schools, as compared to previous years and