PRIA, Government Policy, Made Personal

Summary

The Secretary can give grants or make contracts with eligible groups to pay for projects that help people from disadvantaged backgrounds become nurses. Funding can pay for scholarships or stipends for students, help diploma or associate-degree nurses move into bridge or degree-completion programs, support accelerated nursing programs, pay for pre-entry and advanced preparation, and pay for activities that help keep students in school. The Secretary must consider advice from the National Advisory Council on Nurse Education and Practice and consult a number of nursing groups, including the American Nurses Association, National League for Nursing, American Association of Colleges of Nursing, National Black Nurses Association, National Association of Hispanic Nurses, Association of Asian American and Pacific Islander Nurses, Native American Indian and Alaskan Nurses Association, the National Coalition of Ethnic Minority Nurse Associations, and the National Council of State Boards of Nursing. Grant recipients may have to report yearly admission, retention, and graduation rates for disadvantaged and minority students. If those rates drop below the average of the two previous years, the recipient must give a plan to fix them. If the plan does not improve the rates within a 1-year period after it starts, the recipient cannot get more funding.

Title 42, §296m

The Public Health and Welfare, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)In general

(1)Authority

The Secretary may award grants to and enter into contracts with eligible entities to meet the costs of special projects to increase nursing education opportunities for individuals who are from disadvantaged backgrounds (including racial and ethnic minorities underrepresented among registered nurses) by providing student scholarships or stipends, stipends for diploma or associate degree nurses to enter a bridge or degree completion program, student scholarships or stipends for accelerated nursing degree programs, pre-entry preparation, advanced education preparation, and retention activities.

(b)Guidance

In carrying out subsection (a), the Secretary shall take into consideration the recommendations of the National Advisory Council on Nurse Education and Practice and consult with nursing associations including the National Coalition of Ethnic Minority Nurse Associations, American Nurses Association, the National League for Nursing, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, the National Black Nurses Association, the National Association of Hispanic Nurses, the Association of Asian American and Pacific Islander Nurses, the Native American Indian and Alaskan Nurses Association, and the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, and other organizations determined appropriate by the Secretary.

(c)Required information and conditions for award recipients

(1)In general

Recipients of awards under this section may be required, where requested, to report to the Secretary concerning the annual admission, retention, and graduation rates for individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds and ethnic and racial minorities in the school or schools involved in the projects.

(2)Falling rates

If any of the rates reported under paragraph (1) fall below the average of the two previous years, the grant or contract recipient shall provide the Secretary with plans for immediately improving such rates.

(3)Ineligibility

A recipient described in paragraph (2) shall be ineligible for continued funding under this section if the plan of the recipient fails to improve the rates within the 1-year period beginning on the date such plan is implemented.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Prior Provisions

A prior section 296m, act

July 1, 1944, ch. 373, title VIII, § 822, as added Pub. L. 94–63, title IX, § 931(a),

July 29, 1975, 89 Stat. 361; amended Pub. L. 95–83, title III, § 307(o)(5)(A), Aug. 1, 1977, 91 Stat. 393; Pub. L. 96–76, title I, § 107, Sept. 29, 1979, 93 Stat. 579; Pub. L. 97–35, title XXVII, § 2755, Aug. 13, 1981, 95 Stat. 930; Pub. L. 99–92, § 5, Aug. 16, 1985, 99 Stat. 394; Pub. L. 99–129, title II, § 227(c), Oct. 22, 1985, 99 Stat. 548; Pub. L. 100–607, title VII, § 703, Nov. 4, 1988, 102 Stat. 3157; Pub. L. 101–93, § 5(q), Aug. 16, 1989, 103 Stat. 614; Pub. L. 101–597, title IV, § 401(b)[(a)], Nov. 16, 1990, 104 Stat. 3035; Pub. L. 102–408, title II, § 204, Oct. 13, 1992, 106 Stat. 2072, authorized grants and contracts for nurse practitioner and nurse midwife programs, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 105–392, title I, § 123(1), Nov. 13, 1998, 112 Stat. 3562. A prior section 821 of act

July 1, 1944, was classified to section 296l of this title prior to repeal by Pub. L. 105–392.

Amendments

2010—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 111–148, § 5404(1), designated existing provisions as par. (1), inserted heading, and substituted “stipends for diploma or associate degree nurses to enter a bridge or degree completion program, student scholarships or stipends for accelerated nursing degree programs, pre-entry preparation, advanced education preparation, and retention activities” for “pre-entry preparation, and retention activities”. Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 111–148, § 5404(2), substituted “National Advisory Council on Nurse Education and Practice and consult with nursing associations including the National Coalition of Ethnic Minority Nurse Associations,” for “First, Second and Third Invitational Congresses for Minority Nurse Leaders on ‘Caring for the Emerging Majority,’ in 1992, 1993 and 1997, and consult with nursing associations including the” and inserted “, and other organizations determined appropriate by the Secretary” before period at end.

§296m Workforce Diversity Grants