Dateline: 08/06/02

Hoping to ease a U.S. nursing shortage predicted by a Health and Human Services report to worsen significantly by 2020, President Bush has signed the Nurse Reinvestment Act into law.

The Nursing Shortage
In 2000, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) estimated the nation's supply of registered nurses at 1.89 million, while the demand was estimated at 2 million, for a shortage of 110,000, or 6 percent.

In its recent report, Projected Supply, Demand, and Shortages of Registered Nurses: 2000-2020, HHS projects the current U.S. nursing shortage will deepen over the next two decades as increasing numbers of nurses are retiring while too few new nurses are entering the nursing profession.

"In 1980, about half of all registered nurses were under the age of 40. But by 2000, less than a third were under 40. Nearly 20 percent of all licensed registered nurses have left active nursing," said HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson.

Based on HHS-identified trends in the supply of RNs and anticipated demand, the nursing shortage is expected to double to 12 percent by 2010. By 2015, the shortage is expected to more than triple to 20 percent and to continue growing to 29 percent by 2020.

The problem, say HHS analysts, is one of simple supply and demand. Demand for nurses will grow by 40 percent between 2002 to 2020, while the supply of new nurses will increase by only 6 percent over the period. Factors driving this growth in demand include an 18 percent growth in the population, a larger proportion of elderly in the population, and medical advances.

HHS blames the slow growth in numbers of persons now entering the nursing profession to relatively flat earning power for nurses since 1991, and the emergence of alternate job opportunities.

Highlighting the seriousness of the situation, HHS projects that 44 states and the District of Columbia are projected to face severe nursing shortages by 2020.

Nurse Reinvestment Act - Federal Grants May Help
On Aug. 2, President Bush signed into law the "Nurse Reinvestment Act" (H.R.3487), designed to encourage people to enter and remain in nursing careers, thus helping to alleviate the nation's growing nursing shortage.

The law establishes scholarships, loan repayments, public service announcements, retention grants, career ladders, geriatric training grants, and loan cancellation for nursing faculty. Funding for these programs is provided for through 2007 by the law.

Specifically, the Nurse Reinvestment Act:

• Expands eligibility for the nursing loan repayment program to include service in private hospitals, State or local departments of public health, skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies, hospice programs, and ambulatory surgical centers, subject to certain restrictions.
• Authorizes HHS to provide nursing scholarships in exchange for nursing services in designated health facilities.
• Grants preference to applicants with the greatest financial need and/or a willingness to serve in geographic areas with nursing shortages and need.

"Providing incentives for young people to become involved in nursing, offering resources for expanded nurse training and helping nurses advance in their careers are essential parts of the act. And they are essential to the kind of quality care the American people deserve," said HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson after final passage of the Nurse Reinvestment Act.

In a further response to the nursing shortage, HHS announced in June more than $30 million in grant awards to increase the number of qualified nurses and the quality of nursing across the country.