This bill directs the Department of Health and Human Services to award grants to states for establishing health care workforce improvement plans to address shortages of nurses, mental health professionals, emergency medical services personnel, and other health care workers. Each participating state would establish a Health Care Workforce Council to manage a state investment fund that finances education and training programs, provides scholarships to reduce financial barriers, and creates public-private partnerships between educational institutions and health care employers. The scholarships would be limited to two one-year awards per student, with recipients required to work in the state's health care field for at least one year for each year of funding received or face repayment obligations. Funding would come from the Medicare Improvement Fund, capped at 50 percent of state matching funds and no more than 25 percent of annual appropriations from existing nurse education programs, with states required to submit detailed annual reports on program outcomes and workforce data beginning December 31, 2024.
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