Washington, D.C. – Today, Reps. Darin LaHood (R-IL) and Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE) introduced bipartisan legislation to make a technical correction to a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) program that supports the training of nurses and other allied health professionals at hospital-based nursing schools across the country.
Due to a technical error in how CMS administered this program in the past, many hospital-based nursing schools, including Saint Francis College of Nursing in Peoria, Methodist College in Peoria, Blessing-Rieman College of Nursing in Quincy, and St. John's College of Nursing in Springfield, may be required to send millions of dollars back to CMS. This clawback of federal funding could not come at a worse time, as hospitals and institutions of higher education have faced significant financial challenges over the past year in managing the COVID-19 pandemic. The threat of recoupment could curtail their programs or cause schools to shut down entirely, further limiting our nursing workforce capacity for the future.
Companion legislation has been introduced in the Senate by Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH). Congressman Rodney Davis (R-IL) is also an original cosponsor of the legislation.
“Hospital-based nursing schools in the 18th district of Illinois play an important role in educating nurses and supporting our communities – particularly this past year as we have navigated the challenging COVID-19 pandemic,” said Rep. LaHood. “CMS’s proposed recoupment of federal funding already paid to hospital-based nursing schools could threaten the operations of nursing colleges while we continue to face nursing shortages across the country. I am proud to introduce this bipartisan legislation to protect Illinois’ hospital-based nursing schools, that often serve rural and underserved communities, support our hardworking nurses and health professionals, and strengthen our health system.”
“Educating our health care professionals, including nurses is a critical part of our health care landscape in Delaware. Hospital-based nursing schools, like the Rollins School of Nursing at Beebe Health, help bolster our communities and train excellent professionals that help keep Delawareans safe and healthy,” said Rep. Blunt Rochester. “The current proposal by CMS to claw back federal funding from these programs, which have already had to endure so much throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, is frankly, unacceptable. I’m proud to partner with Rep. LaHood in introducing this bipartisan piece of legislation to ensure that our hospital-based nursing programs can keep hold of the resources they deserve.”
“Nursing programs operated by hospitals are critical to educating the next generation of nurses, particularly as we recover from the pandemic,” said Rep. Davis. “CMS’s attempts to recoup past payments would be detrimental to Illinois’ health care industry, as this unfair action could lead to the closure of entire programs. That’s why I’m proud to team up with Rep. LaHood and other colleagues in the House to introduce this bipartisan bill to protect Illinois’ hospital-based nursing programs that create so many vital health care jobs.”
“The Saint Francis College of Nursing in Peoria and Saint Anthony College of Nursing in Rockford are pleased to have the support of Congressman Darin LaHood in sponsoring this very important legislation,” said Sandie Soldwisch, PhD, APN, ANP-BC, President, OSF College of Health Sciences, in Peoria, Illinois. “Without this action to address fiscal support, the OSF Healthcare Colleges of Nursing programs risk severe reductions in the number of students that will be accepted into our programs, or, even worse, impacting the quality of education delivered. Over 78% of the OSF College of Nursing graduates are employed within OSF HealthCare facilities. We are a leader in the State of Illinois when it comes to inpatient and outpatient Medicaid utilization as many of the communities we serve include various disadvantaged populations. Without adequate funding and the resultant reduction in students graduating and assuming nurse roles, marginalized and underserved populations that depend on their local hospital and have limited means to seek care elsewhere would suffer as a result of any reduction in available nurses.”
"Even prior to COVID the U.S. was facing an unprecedented nursing shortage, and now post-COVID we are experiencing an increase in nursing retirements and an increase in turnover in first year nurses. Now is not the time to remove vital funding from hospital-based nursing programs. These programs have provided high -quality education in their communities resulting in well-educated nursing and health professionals caring for their communities. We are grateful to our legislative leaders who are leading the efforts to support the hospital based educational programs for nursing and allied health and who understand the importance and value of the health care workforce," added Maureen Kahn, President and CEO of Blessing Hospital, in Quincy, Illinois.
“The need for a strong and highly educated nursing and allied health workforce has never been greater. Our amazing students at Methodist College will be the nurses and healthcare workers of tomorrow who help fill this workforce gap so organizations like UnityPoint Health can continue to deliver outstanding care to the community. Restoring CMS funding to previous levels is critical for hospital-based nursing and allied health colleges to continue to provide highly educated healthcare professionals for our community and beyond. Methodist College and UnityPoint Health fully support this bill,” added Tracy Poelvoorde, PhD, RN, Interim Chancellor at Methodist College in Peoria, Illinois.
“Hospital-based nursing colleges, like St. John’s College of Nursing, rely on federal funding to educate nurses in our health system that go on to help our communities when they graduate. If this essential federal funding is cut, it would greatly jeopardize operations at our college of nursing and could lead to less nurses helping local communities. The COVID-19 pandemic has further proven that we do not want to create barriers to educating much needed nurses. We know from the Illinois Board of Nursing that 5,000 experienced nurses either retired or left Illinois in the past year. Please pass the necessary legislation to stop the recoupment of the CMS funding, and continue to send the pass-through dollars to our supporting hospitals at the rate prior to talks of recoupment of these funds," added Charlene S. Aaron PhD, RN, Chancellor of St. John's College of Nursing, in Springfield, Illinois.
The Technical Reset to Advance the Instruction of Nurses (TRAIN) Act would ensure hospital-based nursing schools that received funding support from CMS in the past can keep those resources and put them toward training the next generation of nurses without the threat of recoupment. Specifically, the TRAIN Act would prohibit CMS from recouping overpayments made in past years to hospital-based programs when CMS failed to make technical annual updates to the program.
Nurses and other allied health professionals who are educated and receive their training at hospital-based programs provide high-quality care to communities across the country, including areas facing nursing shortages. Nursing programs should not be required to pay for a problem they played no role in creating, at the cost of our future nursing workforce.
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