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2006 Session

Budget Amendments - SB30 (Committee Approved)

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SCHEV - Performance Criteria for Nursing Programs (language only)

Item 145 #1s

Item 145 #1s

Education: Higher Education
State Council of Higher Education for Virginia

Language
Page 150, strike lines 40 through 51 and insert:  
"I.1.  The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, in consultation with the Healthcare Workforce Task Force described in paragraph 2 of this Item shall develop and recommend criteria for awarding additional state funds through a competitive grant process to innovative regional public-private sector partnerships that seek to maximize the number of newly licensed nurses and increase the supply of graduate nursing faculty.
2. The Healthcare Workforce Task Force will develop criteria for the grant award process, identify aggressive attainment goals, establish mechanisms to monitor results and recommend program scope for the State Council and policy makers to consider.  The Task Force will be co-chaired by the Secretaries of Education and Health and Human Resources and will also include two members of the Senate appointed by the President pro tempore and three members of the House of Delegates appointed by the Speaker of the House of Delegates.  
b) In addition, the Task Force will include six individuals appointed by the co-chairs with experience and knowledge of the supply of nurses and other allied health professionals, training and practice issues as follows:  two higher education leaders, two business leaders (one of whom also serves on the Virginia Workforce Council) and two hospital or health system executives.
3.  The criteria developed by the Task Force for reviewing potential grant applications will reward:  i) regions that demonstrate partnerships between education institutions and health care employers for addressing the registered nursing shortage; ii) applicants that document past, current, and new matching private funds applied toward registered nurse education (to leverage potential public funds); iii) innovative and cost-effective plans that expand the output of registered nurses (e.g., standardized curricula, improved retention rates and improved pass rates on licensure exams); and iv) partnerships that demonstrate a desire and capability to be held accountable for results.  The Council and Healthcare Workforce Task Force shall submit a report on the healthcare workforce competitive grant program scope, criteria and structure to the Governor and the Chairmen of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees by September 1, 2006."


Explanation
(This amendment revises language proposed in the introduced budget. As amended, the language establishes a Healthcare Workforce Task Force and charges the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia to work with this group to establish the potential framework and to recommend award criteria that could be used if the Commonwealth were to establish a state grant program to address Virginia's nursing shortage.)