After allowing hospitals to run nurses out of the healthcare industry through draconian COVID-19 mandates, on Thursday, the Arizona House of Representatives passed HB 2691, the Arizona Health Care Workforce Development Act, which addresses Arizona’s severe healthcare workforce shortage.
The bill appropriates $15,500,000 from the state General Fund (GF) in FYs 2023 through 2025 to the Department of Health Services (DHS) and $32,000,000 from the GF in FYS 2023 through 2025 to the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) for health workforce grant programs.
HB 2691 will now go to the Senate for consideration.
HB 2691 provides:
1. Requires each university under the jurisdiction of the Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR) and each community college to report the number of applications for credit by a member of the United States military that have been received and approved, listing each health care program separately.
2. Appropriates $15,000,000 from the GF in each of FYs 2023, 2024 and 2025 for the Arizona Nurse Education Investment Pilot Program established within DHS.
3. Establishes the Arizona Nurse Education Investment Pilot Program Fund within DHS, to consist of legislative appropriations and federal funds, be continuously appropriated and be exempt from lapsing.
4. Instructs DHS to allocate Arizona Nurse Education Investment Pilot Program Fund monies to ABOR and community college districts based on the number of nursing students who graduate in FY 2022.
5. Authorizes ABOR and community college districts to use their allocations to pay for expenses to increase the number of nursing education faculty members, to pay for capital expenses and student support services and to supplement and not supplant existing appropriations.
6. Outlines policies for distributing monies to the community college districts and state universities.
7. Appropriates $27,000,000 from the GF in each of FYs 2023, 2024 and 2025 for the Student Nurse Clinical Rotation and Licensed or Certified Nurse Training Pilot Program established within AHCCCS.
8. Directs AHCCCS to use the Student Nurse Clinical Rotation and Licensed or Certified Nurse Training Pilot Program to provide grants to licensed health care institutions to expand or create clinical training placements for nursing students.
9. States that a grant from the Student Nurse Clinical Rotation and Licensed or Certified Nurse Training Pilot Program must supplement, and not supplant, existing expenses and that a grant applicant must include matching monies from a revenue source other than the GF.
10. Allows AHCCCS to use up to $2,000,000 from the Student Nurse Clinical Rotation and Licensed or Certified Nurse Training Pilot Program appropriation as a grant to a statewide hospital association to implement a Licensed Registered Nurse Transition to Practice Program.
11. Outlines policies for the Licensed Nurse Transition to Practice Pilot Program, including curricula elements and voluntary participation.
12. Provides annual reporting requirements that DHS and AHCCCS must provide to the Governor and Legislature by December 31, 2023 and each subsequent year.
13. Requires the Health and Human Services Committees of the Arizona House of Representatives and the Senate to conduct a hearing to review the reports on the pilot programs.
14. Appropriates $500,000 from the GF in each of FYs 2023, 2024 and 2025 for the receptor Grant Program for Graduate Students established within DHS.
15. Distributes the Preceptor Grant Program for Graduate Students appropriation to the five largest statewide nonprofit organizations representing allopathic physicians, osteopathic physicians, advanced practice registered nurses, physician assistants or dentists.
16. Directs the nonprofit organizations to distribute grants of up to $1,000 to preceptors, with priority given to primary healthcare providers and providers in rural areas.
17. Appropriates $5,000,000 from the GF in each of FYs 2023, 2024 and 2025 to AHCCCS for the Demonstration Project Pilot Program Fund to distribute to the Maricopa County Community College District and the Navajo County Community College District.
18. Outlines permissible uses of the Demonstration Project Pilot Program Fund Distributions, including to pay for expenses to increase the number of nursing education faculty members and to pay for tuition for eligible students in behavioral health programs.
19. Establishes a reporting requirement for AHCCCS, to be delivered to the Governor and Legislature by December 31, 2023 and each subsequent year.
20. Defines relevant terms.
21. Repeals the health care workforce grant programs established by this act on July 1, 2028.