Title VIII Nursing Workforce Reauthorization Act of 2025
The Title VIII Nursing Workforce Reauthorization Act of 2025 reauthorizes and broadens federal support for Title VIII nursing workforce development programs under the Public Health Service Act. The bill expands the scope of Advanced Nursing Education Grants to cover students in a wider set of advanced practice programs (nurse practitioners, nurse-midwives, nurse anesthetists, and clinical nurse specialists) and updates related program definitions and cost categories. It also strengthens overall capacity-building for nursing education and practice by updating eligible resources, adding a focus on increasing faculty and student numbers, broadening eligible beneficiaries (including survivors of sexual assault), and mandating partnerships with health care facilities to expand clinical education. Finally, the bill increases funding authorization for these programs for fiscal years 2026–2030. In short, the bill aims to increase federal support for nursing education and training, modernize the kinds of resources institutions can use, and expand opportunities for clinical education and for groups affected by nursing shortages.
Key Points
- 1Expands Advanced Nursing Education Grants to include students in authorized nurse practitioner, nurse-midwifery, nurse anesthesia, and clinical nurse specialist programs; updates program descriptions accordingly.
- 2Revisions to nurse-midwifery provisions remove certain references and broaden program scope to align with current practice and education needs.
- 3Broadens allowable grant costs to include not only tuition/fees but also costs for clinical education and preceptors.
- 4Strengthens capacity-building for nursing education and practice by: (a) removing the word “basic” from the Part D heading, (b) adding modern educational resources (audiovisual/equipment, simulation and augmented reality, telehealth, and both virtual and physical labs), and (c) adding an explicit goal to increase the number of faculty and students to address nursing shortages.
- 5Adds survivors of sexual assault to the eligible populations connected with nursing education and practice programs, and requires partnerships with health care facilities or similar sites to provide opportunities for establishing or expanding clinical education.
- 6Increases federal funding authorization for 2026–2030: the account funding for Advanced Nursing Education Grants increases to $184,337,000 per year, and the other related Title VIII program funding increases to $121,135,000 per year.