The bill amends Title VII of the Public Health Service Act to create a two‑year pilot program that will establish or strengthen State nursing workforce centers. The Secretary of Health and Human Services may award two‑year grants to eligible State agencies, nursing boards, schools of nursing, nonprofits, and community organizations to collect and standardize workforce data, conduct strategic planning, and run programs that expand and stabilize the nurse pipeline, including faculty support, student services, retention initiatives, and emergency preparedness training.
The measure also expands an existing grants/contracts authority to fund national or regional centers that provide analysis and technical assistance to the new State centers, including a publicly accessible website and resource repository. The pilot includes a $1 non‑Federal for every $4 Federal matching requirement and authorizes HRSA to use up to $1.5 million in each of fiscal years 2026 and 2027 for the program—making this a focused, proof‑of‑concept effort to improve subnational workforce data and planning rather than a large, sustained infusion of federal funding.
At a Glance
What It Does
Authorizes a 2‑year HRSA pilot that awards 2‑year grants to create or enhance State nursing workforce centers, requires a 1:4 non‑Federal match, and specifies allowable uses (data, planning, education capacity, retention programs). It also expands the Health Workforce Analysis program to fund national/regional analysis, technical assistance, and an online resource repository.
Who It Affects
Directly affects State agencies, State boards of nursing, schools of nursing, 501(c)(3) organizations, community organizations, HRSA, and employers who rely on nursing labor. Indirectly affects students, licensed nurses, and health systems that will use improved workforce data for staffing and planning.
Why It Matters
The bill targets a longstanding gap: subnational, standardized nursing workforce data and coordinated State planning. If implemented, it could change how States align education capacity, clinical placements, and retention programs with employer demand—although modest funding and a short pilot period limit scale and permanence.
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What This Bill Actually Does
The bill creates a dedicated pilot program—Section 785—to seed State‑level nursing workforce centers. HRSA can award two‑year grants to entities that either create new centers or expand existing ones.
Grantees must provide non‑Federal contributions equal to at least $1 for each $4 of Federal funds, which can be cash or in‑kind donations from public or private sources. HRSA must, to the extent possible, distribute grants equitably across U.S. regions and prioritize applicants that provide statewide services, demonstrate subject‑matter expertise, have a history of convening stakeholders, and partner with entities that educate and employ nurses.
The statute enumerates a broad set of permissible activities. Centers may analyze current State workforce data and data gaps; evaluate nursing education programs (faculty capacity and pay, enrollment and completion, student supports, facility needs, and clinical placement capacity); review State financial aid and scholarship structures; and study drivers of recruitment and retention and the fiscal and clinical implications of contract nursing.
Centers may also run programs to shore up faculty, recruit and retain nurses across settings, develop leadership, build skills to address social determinants of health and health inequities, prepare nurses for public health emergencies, and provide career counseling and mentoring.Reporting and accountability are built into the pilot. Beginning no later than one year after the first award and annually thereafter, the Secretary must report to Congress on initiatives undertaken, impact data (including demographics of nurses served and services provided), the effectiveness of public‑private partnerships, continuous evaluation metrics, and recommendations for reducing shortages by specialty, geography, and employer type.
Funding for the pilot comes from HRSA workforce program appropriations, with up to $1.5 million authorized for each of fiscal years 2026 and 2027.Separately, the bill amends the Health Workforce Analysis provisions (section 761(c)) to ensure at least one grant or contract under that authority is awarded to an entity with explicit nursing workforce expertise. That authority is expanded to include producing regional and national reports, peer‑reviewed articles, policy briefs, and rapid data analyses; providing technical assistance on standardized supply/demand/education data; offering training for center staff; and operating a public website and repository of tools and webinars to support the State centers.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The pilot grants run for two years; each grantee must match Federal funds at a minimum ratio of $1 non‑Federal to $4 Federal.
Eligible applicants explicitly include State agencies, State boards of nursing, 501(c)(3) organizations, community organizations, and schools of nursing.
Permissible uses include detailed, State‑level analysis of nursing education capacity (faculty pay and capacity, enrollment, clinical placements) and focused research on the fiscal and clinical outcomes of contract nursing.
The Secretary must report to Congress annually on impact metrics, data standardization efforts, and best practices to reduce shortages by specialty, geography, and employer type.
The bill authorizes HRSA to use up to $1,500,000 in each of fiscal years 2026 and 2027 from existing workforce appropriations to run the pilot.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Short title
Designates the measure as the "National Nursing Workforce Center Act of 2025." This is purely nominal but signals the bill’s focus on building institutional centers dedicated to State nursing workforce issues.
State Nursing Workforce Center Data Collection Pilot Program
Creates a new Part G in Title VII that authorizes a 2‑year pilot for State‑level nursing workforce centers. The Secretary may establish or enhance centers via grants, beginning no later than one year after enactment. The provision requires an equitable regional distribution of awards and sets selection priorities that favor entities able to operate at statewide scale and convene education and employer stakeholders—an intentional design to push grantees toward coordination rather than narrow, local projects.
Two‑year grants with 1:4 matching and defined eligible entities
Grants are explicitly two years long and come with a matching condition: grantees must provide at least $1 in non‑Federal funds for every $4 in Federal grant funds; matches can be cash or in‑kind. The statute lists eligible applicants (State agencies, State boards of nursing, 501(c)(3)s, community organizations, schools of nursing) and allows the Secretary to add other eligible education programs—broad eligibility intended to bring a mix of public and private partners into center operations.
Research, planning, training, and programs to expand and retain the nursing workforce
Specifies a wide menu of allowable activities: workforce data analysis and gap identification; evaluation of 2‑ and 4‑year education programs (faculty, enrollment, facilities, clinical placements); study of State financial aid programs; strategic workforce planning with employers; research on shortages and contract nursing outcomes; and implementation programs supporting faculty recruitment/retention, student supports, leadership development, SDOH training, pandemic readiness, and career counseling. This breadth gives centers flexibility to pair analytic work with targeted interventions.
National/regional analysis and technical assistance; website and resource repository
Expands the existing grant/contract authority for regional centers to include nursing workforce‑specific analysis and technical assistance. The amendment requires that at least one award go to an entity focused on nursing workforce issues and authorizes deliverables ranging from peer‑reviewed publications to rapid analytic products and policy briefs. It also mandates technical assistance to State centers, online and in‑person training, and a publicly accessible website with a repository of webinars, tools, and resources—institutionalizing a support layer above the State centers.
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Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- State nursing workforce centers and conveners — Receive seed grant funding and federal technical assistance to build standardized data systems and run targeted recruitment/retention programs.
- Schools of nursing — Get support for assessing faculty capacity, clinical placement bottlenecks, and student services; centers can fund programs aimed at expanding enrollment and faculty retention.
- Nurses and nursing students — Stand to gain from expanded education slots, career counseling and mentoring programs, leadership development, and pandemic/public health preparedness training.
- State policymakers and workforce planners — Gain access to standardized, State‑level supply/demand analyses and evidence‑informed strategies to address maldistribution and specialty shortages.
- Health systems and employers — Benefit from improved local data that can inform hiring, clinical placement partnerships, and long‑term staffing strategies.
Who Bears the Cost
- Grantees (State agencies, schools, nonprofits) — Must provide matching funds (1:4) and absorb administrative costs of building or expanding centers, which may strain low‑resource applicants.
- Health Resources and Services Administration — Must allocate up to $1.5 million per fiscal year from its workforce budget and oversee grant administration and reporting obligations.
- Smaller states and rural communities — May face higher relative administrative and matching burdens to participate, creating a risk that better‑resourced States capture awards.
- Schools of nursing and faculty — May need to divert staff time to data collection, partnership activities, and reporting, which can be a hidden cost if not covered by grant dollars.
- Private partners and donors — Expected to contribute to matches or partnerships; contributions could create expectations of influence or priority access to centers’ work.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central dilemma is between building centrally useful, standardized State data and workforce planning infrastructure and the practical limits of a short, modestly funded pilot that requires significant non‑Federal matching: the places that most need help may lack the resources to compete, forcing a choice between equity and the political reality of constrained federal funds.
The bill is correctly targeted at a measurable problem—weak, nonstandardized subnational nursing data—but the scale and structure raise immediate implementation questions. First, the funding authorization (up to $1.5 million per year) is small relative to the scope of work contemplated (multiple State centers, technical assistance, reporting, and a public repository).
That implies either a limited number of awards or awards of modest size, which will constrain what centers can accomplish during a two‑year window.
Second, the 1:4 non‑Federal match privileges jurisdictions and institutions with access to philanthropic or budgetary reserves. States, community organizations, and schools that lack capacity may be unable to meet the match and so may be excluded or forced into partnerships that change project priorities.
Third, the statute pushes toward data standardization and public reporting, but it does not lay out data governance, interoperability standards, or privacy safeguards in detail. Collecting workforce data that touches licensure, education records, and employment may trigger state privacy laws and operational complications for linking datasets.
Finally, the bill envisions public‑private partnerships and donor support; without clear conflict‑of‑interest guardrails, centers may face pressure to align research or workforce recommendations with private funders’ interests.
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