Virginia Association of Colleges of Nursing

Success! Appropriations for APRN preceptors

  • 1.  Success! Appropriations for APRN preceptors

    Posted 02-19-2020 08:59

    Please see the update from Andrew Lamar on the progress of APRN preceptor incentives. Thank you all for your work in communicating with your legislators! This will be of great support in securing clinical placements for our APRN students across the state. A big thank you to Melody Eaton and VNA for advancing this nursing education issue. It is will be important for VACN to be involved in the next steps of development and rollout as well as demonstrating impact in our APRN programs across the state (in particular support of increased enrollment).

    Good News.  
    The House Appropriations and Senate Finance & Appropriations committees' budgets both included funding and language exactly as VNA requested. The language as adopted by each committee is pasted below.  The General Assembly is providing $500,000 each year for this program to incentivize preceptors to provide additional clinical education opportunities for APRN students so that we can increase enrollment and the number of graduates in Virginia each year. These amendments will be adopted by the full House and full Senate on Thursday of this week.  Because the two items are identical, this should be final action and not a matter of discussion during the conference negotiations on the final budget.

    Next Steps. Once the final budget is agreed to by the General Assembly during the first week of March, we can begin outreach to the Virginia Department of Health.  I have spoken with their leadership already and they will be ready to initiate discussions in March on the various elements of program design.  VNA will be key to this discussion, along with the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association, the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, and others. 

     

    Item 295 #3h

    Committee Approved Amendments to House Bill 30, as Introduced

    Page 280, line 22, strike "$885,000" and insert "$1,385,000".
    Page 280, line 22, strike "$885,000" and insert "$1,385,000".

    "C. Out of this appropriation, $500,000 from the first year and $500,000 from the second year from the general fund shall be provided to the Virginia Department of Health to establish a Nursing Preceptor Incentive Program. The department shall collaborate with the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, the Virginia Nurses Association, the Virginia Healthcare & Hospital Association, and other relevant stakeholders on an advanced practice nursing student preceptor grant program. The program shall offer a $1,000 incentive for any Virginia licensed physician, physician's assistant, or advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) who, in conjunction with a licensed and accredited Virginia public or private not-for-profit school of nursing, provides a clinical education rotation of 250 hours, and which is certified as having been completed by the school. The amount of the incentive may be adjusted based on the actual number of hours completed during the clinical education rotation. The program shall seek to reduce the shortage of APRN clinical education opportunities and establish new preceptor rotations for advanced practice nursing students, especially in high demand fields such as psychiatry. The department shall report to the Chairs of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance and Appropriations Committees by November 1, 2020 on the progress of establishing the Nursing Preceptor Incentive Program."

    Explanation:

    (This amendment provides $500,000 from the first year and $500,000 from the second year from the general fund to the Virginia Department of Health to establish a Nursing Preceptor Incentive Program. The department would report to the Chairs of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance and Appropriations Committees by November 1, 2020 on the progress of establishing the Nursing Preceptor Incentive Program." 

     

    Item 295 #1s

    Page 280, line 22, strike "$885,000" and insert "$1,385,000".
    Page 280, line 22, strike "$885,000" and insert "$1,385,000".

    Page 281, after line 3, insert:
    "C. Out of this appropriation, $500,000 from the first year and $500,000 from the second year from the general fund shall be provided to the Virginia Department of Health to establish a Nursing Preceptor Incentive Program. The department shall collaborate with the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, the Virginia Nurses Association, the Virginia Healthcare & Hospital Association, and other relevant stakeholders on an advanced practice nursing student preceptor grant program. The program shall offer a $1,000 incentive for any Virginia licensed physician, physician's assistant, or advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) who, in conjunction with a licensed and accredited Virginia public or private not-for-profit school of nursing, provides a clinical education rotation of 250 hours, and which is certified as having been completed by the school. The amount of the incentive may be adjusted based on the actual number of hours completed during the clinical education rotation. The program shall seek to reduce the shortage of APRN clinical education opportunities and establish new preceptor rotations for advanced practice nursing students, especially in high demand fields such as psychiatries. The department shall report to the Chairs of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance and Appropriations Committees by November 1, 2020 on the progress of establishing the Nursing Preceptor Incentive Program."

    Explanation:

    (This amendment provides $500,000 from the first year and $500,000 from the second year from the general fund to the Virginia Department of Health to establish a Nursing Preceptor Incentive Program. The department would report to the Chairs of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance and Appropriations Committees by November 1, 2020 on the progress of establishing the Nursing Preceptor Incentive Program.) 



    ------------------------------
    Cindy Rubenstein PhD
    Director of Nursing and Professor
    Randolph-Macon College
    Ashland VA
    ------------------------------