Healthcare workforce gains seen with Medicare-funded test program
An increase in government funding for clinical training opportunities for advanced practice registered nursing (APRN) is a feasible and affordable way to grow the primary care workforce, according to a Report to Congress on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Graduate Nurse Education Demonstration.
The $200 million initiative was started in 2012 to determine if Medicare funding for graduate clinical education for APRNs, similar to residency training for physicians, could help meet meet the health needs of the U.S. population.
“There is a shortage of primary care providers in this country and the education of more APRNs can be part of the solution to increasing access to care,” Barbara A. Todd, DNP, director of Graduate Nurse Education (GNE) Demonstration at the Hospital University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, told MedPage Today.
CMS awarded funding for clinical training programs to five hospitals, which then partnered with accredited schools of nursing and non-hospital community-based care settings to deliver primary, preventive, and transitional care to Medicare beneficiaries.
The five hospitals are Duke University Hospital in Durham, North Carolina; Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center in Houston, Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, and HonorHealth Scottsdale Osborn Medical Center in Arizona.
Lori Hull-Grommesh, director of demonstration at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, commented on program results in the Texas Gulf Coast area, noting that 95% of APRN graduates are employed in the community setting and are helping meet critical access needs. She said she believes that national funding would allow these results to be replicated in other states.
Linda H. Aiken, PhD, coordinator of the GNE Demonstration Consortium of University of Pennsylvania, agreed. “If permanent Medicare funding were available for the clinical training of advanced practice nurses in all states, the national shortage of primary care could be solved and Americans would be able to get timely healthcare where ever they live.”
The report stated that demonstration schools had significantly greater APRN enrollment and graduation growth than comparison schools. It also touched on financial incentives: clinical training for an APRN came to a total of $30,000 compared with $150,000 for just 1 year of community-based residency training for primary care physicians.
Although the GNE demonstration is slated to conclude at the end of June 2018, the five hospitals are currently collaborating with major national stakeholders in order to promote permanent funding to roll out the program nationally.
“All five sites are working together to promote efforts for ongoing funding, along with major stakeholders AARP and [American Association of Critical-Care Nurses], who were instrumental from the beginning,” explained Hull-Grommesh. This is being done through publications, meetings, presentations and discussions with our legislators, she added.
Aiken noted that various types of healthcare organizations, including physician practices and retail clinics, are hiring nurse practitioners in larger numbers and supporting efforts like the demonstration to increase the supply for advanced practice nurses. Also, healthcare settings are working to recruit more advanced practice nurses, especially for their valuable role in ending the opioid epidemic and addressing unmet mental healthcare needs, she pointed out.
This story was originally posted on MedPage Today.
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