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House of Representatives
Session of 2023 - 2024 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted:	March 14, 2024 12:00 PM
From:	Representative Tarik Khan and Rep. Bridget M. Kosierowski, Rep. Paul Takac, Rep. La'Tasha D. Mayes, Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, Rep. Justin C. Fleming
To:	All House members
Subject:	Supporting Education of our Health Care Workforce

Nearly 80,000 applicants across the nation were not offered enrollment to nursing schools in 2022. These prospective nurses were not turned away due to a lack of qualifications, but because nursing schools are facing a shortage of faculty members. In response, nursing schools have been forced to limit class sizes, therefore limiting the number of nurses our state is able to turn out. The nursing faculty shortages are caused by many factors, including a need for higher education to be considered for positions, pay inequities, and due to many faculty members retiring in recent years.   Additionally, a core requirement for medical and nursing students is completion of training rotations with a licensed professional in their field of study. Known as preceptors, these individuals serve to bridge the gap between the classroom and the exam room, but this profession has also faced shortages in recent years, limiting the number of students who can complete their mandatory clinical rotations.   We are proposing a package of bills to provide for the recruitment and retainment of nursing faculty members and health care preceptors.   • Modeled after a highly successful Maryland program, our first bill would establish the New Nursing Faculty Grant Program to provide grants of up to $10,000 per year for newly employed, full-time nursing faculty members.   • Our second bill would establish the Pennsylvania Health Care Preceptor Deduction to incentivize qualified individuals to serve as preceptors for advanced practice nurses, physicians, physician assistants, and registered nurses by providing a $1,000 tax deduction for doing do. Five states have taken action to incentivize medical professionals to enter preceptorships, and our legislation would make Pennsylvania the sixth.   To ensure that all Pennsylvanians can receive high-quality medical care, we must take steps to mitigate the effects of the current nursing shortages. To do so, our medical colleges need more knowledgeable faculty members to teach our prospective nurses, and more preceptors are needed to provide valuable mentorship during clinical rotations. Our legislation will directly address these problems by supporting the recruitment and retainment of faculty members and preceptors, therefore increasing the enrollment capacities of health care training programs which will result in more health care workers entering the field.   Please join us in co-sponsoring this critical legislation as a vital step towards helping eliminate the chronic shortage of professionals in health care.

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Document #1

Description:	Document 1- Modeled after a highly successful Maryland program, our first bill would establish the New Nursing Faculty Grant Program to provide grants of up to $10,000 per year for newly employed, full-time nursing faculty members.

Document #2

Description:

Document 2- Our second bill would establish the Pennsylvania Health Care Preceptor Deduction to incentivize qualified individuals to serve as preceptors for advanced practice nurses, physicians, physician assistants, and registered nurses by providing a $1,000 tax deduction for doing do. Five states have taken action to incentivize medical professionals to enter preceptorships, and our legislation would make Pennsylvania the sixth.