• On Sept. 21, Rep. Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara) celebrated the passage of H.R. 2713, the Title VIII Nursing Workforce Reauthorization Act, by the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce full committee. The bill passed with unanimous, bipartisan support. As Congressional Nursing Caucus Co-Chairs, Capps and Rep. David Joyce (R-Russel Township) co-authored this bipartisan legislation to reauthorize federal nursing workforce programs that help train and retain highly skilled nurses in the nation’s health care system. It’s now eligible for consideration by the full House of Representatives.
First enacted 50 years ago, Title VIII nursing programs bolster nursing education at all levels, from entry-level preparation through graduate study, and support institutions that educate nurses for practice in potential shortage areas, such as rural and underserved communities. In addition, the programs support loan repayment opportunities for nurses in exchange for working in underserved areas or for going into academia to teach the next generation of the profession, and they also support specific training for nurses to practice with the aging population. The Title VIII Nursing Workforce Reauthorization Act would continue these programs and update them to recognize changes in the nursing profession.
A former nurse, Capps is a longtime public health advocate and proponent of Title VIII programs. In addition to co-authoring H.R. 2713, Capps led the past two reauthorization efforts, passing the Nurse Reinvestment Act into law in 2002, which greatly modernized the programs, and getting the last Title VIII reauthorization included in the Affordable Care Act.
“At over 3 million strong, nurses are the backbone of our health care system,” Capps said in a release. “We need to keep that backbone strong. That’s exactly what Title VIII has done for more than 50 years by supporting nursing education at all levels, from entry-level preparation through graduate study. These are targeted investments in the recruitment, retention, and distribution of these highly educated professionals, and it’s critical to ensure that they continue and are available for years to come. I’m proud to have authored this bipartisan effort and look forward to seeing it come to the House floor.”
This article appears in Sep 29 – Oct 6, 2016.