President Obama Makes Investment in Nursing through American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

Today, President Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, making an historic investment in nursing education and, as a consequence, the health and health care of Americans, now and in the future.

The final version of the legislation includes $500 million to address critical health care workforce shortages. Approximately $200 million of this funding will be dedicated to tackling the growing nursing and other primary care provider shortages by providing a funding increase for the Title VII & VIII nursing and other health care workforce development programs administered by the Division of Health Resources and Services Administration within the Department of Health & Human Services. In addition, $250 million is allocated to the Department of Labor for competitive grants for job training and placement in high growth sectors with priority given to health care jobs.