What is this bill?
Click here to see the full bill
What is the purpose?
- Assisting visiting nurse associations and other non-profit home health agencies to improve training and workforce development for home healthcare nurses
- Promoting and facilitating academic-practice collaborations
- Improving recruitment and retention of home healthcare nurses
The governmental objectives of the bill are to increase the number of home healthcare nurses thereby expanding the access that high-risk patients and underserved populations have to these nurses. With this bill the government hopes to close the disparity gap between the patients who can afford to receive home health care and those who can't. They hope to accomplish these goals by:
- authorizing grants under the Title VIII of the Public Health Service Act so that non-profit home healthcare providers can more easily recruit and train nurses in the specialized fields of home health and geriatric care
-offering loan forgiveness to nursing students who commit to working three years for a non-profit healthcare provider
- establishing a pilot program to enable no less than five Colleges of Nursing to partner with non-profit providers to develop curricula and teaching opportunities that develop the skills necessary for home health
Why is this bill needed?
It will help fill a current national need for home healthcare nurses by underserved populations. There currently is a significant shortage of home healthcare nurses, which is harming individuals’ access to cost-effective home healthcare, particularly among underserved and high-risk populations. Fifty-nine percent of VNAs surveyed indicated that they must decline patient referrals on a weekly basis. (VNAA Survey, 2008)
It will help meet the projected need for home healthcare nurses. The aging population, the increasing prevalence of chronic disease, longer life spans, and the general preference to live as independently as possible at home will create an unprecedented demand for home-based care during the next several decades. Home healthcare is predicted to experience a 36% demand shortfall by 2020 (U.S. Department of Labor, 2007). Demand for home healthcare nurses is expected to increase 109% by 2020. (HRSA, 2004)
It will help control national healthcare costs by prioritizing home and community-based nursing care. Such care is consistently being cited as a cost-effective alternative to institutional care. National average per-beneficiary spending by Medicare for those with at least one chronic condition during the last two years of life is $2,262 in the home health sector, $7,257 for outpatient care, and $25,376 for inpatient care. (Wennberg, J., Fisher, E., et al. 2008)
The aging population is rapidly increasing therefore increasing the need for home health care. The increasing aging population, prevalence of chronic disease, and strong preference by individuals to live independently at home as long as possible will create an unprecedented demand for home-based care during the next several decades. By 2020, home health utilization is projected to increase by 36 percent. As a result the demand for home healthcare nurses is projected to increase by 109% by 2020, compared to 37% for hospital nurses.
Visiting nurse associations have been shown to lower costs for high-cost patient populations. Yet because they provide a substantial amount of uncompensated care, they are increasingly unable to compete for nurses in a national nursing shortage environment. According to a recent survey 81% of the visiting nurse associations indicate that their salary limitations are the number one barrier to recruitment. Approximately 22% of the visiting nurse associations indicate that their local hospitals offer salaries $10,000 greater than they are able to offer.
Potential impact of the policy change on nursing, clients, and the health care system
Click here for article: Nursing Shortage Hits Home Health
Official website of the Visiting Nurse Associations of America
www.vnaa.org
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