In the midst of trying to pass historic healthcare reform legislation, both the House and Senate took time to vote on an omnibus package which would assure funding for government agencies to run the remainder of fiscal year 2010 (FY2010). On December 16, President Barack Obama signed the $447 billion omnibus package into law, which included nearly $500 million in funding for Title VII and Title VIII Nursing Workforce Development programs. This is more than 26% above the funding level in 2009.

On Thursday, December 10, the U.S. House of Representatives voted and passed the FY 2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act, H.R. 3288, by a vote of 221-202. In a rare Sunday session, on December 13, the U.S. Senate voted and passed the package by a vote of 57-35. President Barack Obama signed the FY 2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act into law on December 16, 2009.

The Title VIII Nursing Workforce Development Programs which are administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) received $244 million, a 42% increase ($73 million) over 2009 funding levels ($171 million). These programs are critical in providing funding for the nation’s nursing education programs, recruiting new nurses into the profession, promoting career advancement within nursing and recruiting nurses into critical shortage areas.

Here are some highlights related to nursing:

• $64.4 million for Advanced Education Nursing
• $39.8 million for Nurse Education, Practice and Retention
• $16 million for Workforce Diversity
• $93.8 million (153% increase) for Loan Repayments and Scholarships
• $25 million (117%  increase) for Nursing Faculty Loans
• $4.5 million for Comprehensive Geriatric Education.

The package also includes:

• $2.2 billion for Community Health Centers (level from 2009)
• $31 billion for the National Institutes for Health (NIH) ($692 million above 2009)
• $6.8 billion for public health ($128 million above 2009)
• $1 billion for mental health services ($26 million above 2009)
• $2.5 billion for substance abuse prevention and treatment ($61.5 million above 2009)

Rachel Conant

Tags: Appropriations, FY09, FY10, January 2010, Nursing Workforce Development Programs, Title VIII

This entry was posted on Friday, January 29th, 2010 at 2:40 PM and is filed under Archived. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.