AARP believes that every American deserves a highly skilled nurse when and where nursing skills are needed. A richly skilled, effectively integrated nursing workforce — with enough professionals to meet the need — is essential to delivering high-quality health care.

For more information on nursing issues and how they impact your health care, visit the Center to Champion Nursing in America, a joint initiative of AARP, the AARP Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

80 Million Eyes on Nursing

AARP members are watching for policy solutions and legislation that augment the nursing workforce in the following four areas:

• Funding for the Nursing Workforce: Federal and state policies promoting better funding for the nursing workforce.
• Health Care Reform: Acting on the knowledge that policies supporting the nursing workforce also strengthen health-care reform.
• Expanding Nursing-Education Capacity: Federal and state policies to help U.S. nursing schools educate more nurses.
• Nurse Retention: Federal and state policies to help hospitals and other health-care facilities retain highly skilled nurses.

Providing the Nurses We Need

Investing in a nursing workforce with the right numbers and the appropriate skill set is crucial to meeting the goals of health care reform, especially the much needed delivery system reforms that will lower health care costs and improve patient care.

To ensure Americans have a nurse, with the right skills, when and where they need one, Congress should take two actions: 1) modernize Medicare nursing education payments to help produce more advanced practice nurses; and 2) establish a reliable, dedicated source of funding for nursing education capacity.

RELATED ARTICLES

• Nursing Related Provisions in Proposed Health Care Reform Legislation: A Chart

• Statement from Susan Reinhard: AARP Supports Senate bill to expand number of Advanced Practice Registered Nurse

• A Letter of Endorsement: AARP, nursing organizations support Capps bill to increase funding for nursing training

• Statement from Susan Reinhard: AARP applauds House bill to modernize Medicare funding for nursing education

• House Testimony: AARP President Jennie Chi-Hansen includes Nursing Education and Transitional Care Benefits in her testimony before two Congressional committees: Ways and Means Committee Energy & Commerce Committee

• Senate Testimony: AARP's appearance before the Senate Finance Committee on Reforming America's Health Care Delivery System, April 21, 2009

• Letter to House Representative: AARP applauds Rep. Lois Capps' leadership on health and nursing issues

 Nursing and the Economic Stimulus

AARP advocated for additional funding for nursing education in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Here are some related materials:

• Overview of 2010 HHS Appropriations for Nursing Education: House and Senate Appropriations Committees Approve Spending Bills

• Fact Sheet: Putting Nurses to Work in the Economic Recovery Package: Option for Consideration

• Letter from the CCNA: Congress Considers Major Investment in Nursing Education as Part of Economic Recovery

• Letter to the Senate: Former AARP CEO writes to Majority Leader Harry Reid about "Stimulation of Health Care Jobs"

• Letter from the CCNA: President Obama Signs the Reinvestment Act of 2009; Represents a Major Investment for Nursing Education

• Letter to the HRSA: AARP's letter the Health Resources and Services Administration urging the use of ARRA funds for nursing workforce development

Other Legislative Activities

• Letter from the CCNA: 2009 Omnibus Budget Includes nearly 10 percent Increase for Nursing Education