BILL NUMBER: S9211

SPONSOR: REICHLIN-MELNICK
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the public health law, in relation to nursing residency
programs in hospitals and nursing homes

 
PURPOSE:

To empower hospitals and nursing homes to partner with colleges in
creating and improving nursing residency programs, this is a piece of
the larger "Respect Nurses Act" or "RN Act" (S8175 of 2022), the purpose
of which is to remediate the statewide nursing shortage by enacting a
comprehensive set of policies designed to encourage more students to
train in nursing, and to provide the necessary support to nurses of
every experience level.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section one adds 2801-j to the public health law, and allows any hospi-
tal or nursing home in the state to partner with a post-secondary insti-
              

tution to submit a proposal to DOH for the development and implementa-
tion or improvement and continuation of a nursing residency program. The
proposal must detail how facilities will establish or expand nurse resi-
dency programs, to help recent graduates transition into clinical prac-
tice and assist current nurses in changing their specialties without
interrupting their careers. If proposals are approved, DOH will release
funds to support facilities in establishing or expanding their nursing
residency programs.

Section two of the bill provides the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION

New York state has a shortage of nurses - and there is a healthcare
crisis looming if we do not act now to solve it. Before the Coronavirus
Pandemic, the NYS Department of Health released a study on caregiving
staffing, finding that by 2030 NYS will have a shortage of over 39,000
Registered Professional Nurses (RNs). The shortage will be statewide but
will be acutely felt in rural areas.

For years, fewer people have been starting careers in the nursing field,
while there are a number of qualified students that have been turned
away from nursing programs due to capacity constraints. The American
Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) 2019 - 2020 report, found that
US baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs turned away over 80,000
qualified applicants in 2019 due to "insufficient number of faculty,
clinical sites, classroom space, clinical preceptors, and budget
constraints." The National League for Nursing in 2020 found that for
associate programs over 45,000 qualified candidates were turned away due
to limited resources.

Part of this lack of access to programs is caused by a nursing faculty
shortage. Faculty wages continue to be noncompetitive, pushing many
nurses to pursue clinician roles rather than train the next generation
of nurses. The AACN also found that about a third of the nurse faculty
workforce plan to retire by 2025, which will significantly worsen these
issues.
Additionally, the ballooning student debt crisis, which impacts nursing
students just as much if not more than students in other programs, is
contributing to the shortage. A survey by the National Student Nurses'
Association of their members, found the overall average debt burden for
2019 graduates across all program types was $28,967. This tracks with
the national student debt average of approximately $29,000 for under-
graduate programs but does not take into account the fact that many
nurses also go on to complete master's level education. AACN's 2017
Graduate Nursing Student Loan Survey offers a glimpse of the financial
condition of graduate nursing students. The study found that 69% of
graduate nursing students had federal loans, while 76% also reported
taking out loans for acquiring their undergraduate nursing degree. The
median amount of loan debt for graduates once they complete their
program is anticipated to range from $40,000 to $54,999.

Over the last three years, dealing with a global pandemic and numerous
administrative, health, and political challenges for healthcare workers,
many nurses have decided to leave the field entirely to pursue a career
with a better quality of life. There is no silver-bullet solution to
this problem, but the RESPECT Nurses (RN) Act provides a comprehensive
approach with a diverse set of strategies to encourage more students to
train in nursing, and to make the career more rewarding - both
emotionally and financially - for nurses of every experience level and
stage of their career.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.