Despite a federal government shutdown, lawmakers are introducing legislation including two new proposals that focus on growing the healthcare workforce, which is in dire need of more doctors, nurses, and dentists, notably in rural areas. Shortages are not news to skilled nursing and related long-term care providers facing the same staffing crunches.

The Health Care Workforce Expansion Act (S. 2954) sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) would, in part, make nonprofit medical school tuition free for students who commit to practicing primary care for at least 10 years; make nonprofit nursing school tuition free for any student who wants to become a nurse; add more than 50,000 new slots for the Medicare Graduate Medical Education program, dedicating 30 percent to primary care and 15 percent to psychiatry residencies; and, allocate $20,000 relocation grants to doctors, dentists, and nurses who agree to work in rural communities.

Read the bill text here and the summary here.

Another piece of legislation of note is The Pathways to Health Careers Act (H.R. 5270) sponsored by House Ways and Means Worker and Family Support Subcommittee Ranking Member Danny K. Davis (D-Ill.). This bill would modernize and reauthorize the Health Profession Opportunity Grant (HPOG) program, which focuses on eliminating healthcare staffing shortages by connecting those needing jobs to openings in the healthcare sector.

The full bill is HERE. A fact sheet on HPOG is HERE. And, a section-by-section of the Pathways to Health Career Act is HERE.