Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Susan Collins (R-ME)

On April 1 Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Susan Collins (R-ME) reintroduced the Caring for an Aging America Act.

Medical News Today quotes Sen. Boxer as saying, “Our nation is facing an immediate and growing crisis in providing care for our aging population. Ensuring we have a well-trained health care workforce with the skills to care for our aging population is a critical investment in America’s future” (“Senators Boxer, Collins Reintroduce Legislation to Provide Quality Care for Older Americans,” April 2).

As reported by PHI and others, the senators first introduced the bill in March 2008 (see “Senate Bill Proposes Career Ladder Funding for DCWs,” PHI, April 26, 2008). At the time, it was endorsed by a number of prominent organizations, including the American Geriatrics Society, the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, the National Council on Aging, and the Alzheimer’s Association.

Specific provisions of the bill include:

• Establishment of a Geriatric and Gerontology Loan Repayment Program for medical professionals who complete training in geriatrics or gerontology
• Expansion of eligibility for the Nursing Education Loan Repayment Program to include nurses who specifically train to care for elders in long-term care settings
• Expansion of career advancement opportunities for nursing and direct care workers by offering specialty training in long-term care through the existing Career Ladders Grants Program
• Creation of a “Health and Long-Term Care Workforce Advisory Panel for an Aging America” to examine and advise government offices and officials on workforce issues related to healthcare and long-term care for older Americans.

The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) has released a press release applauding the reintroduced legislation, saying that it, “would help address the serious and growing nationwide shortage of healthcare professionals and direct-care workers trained to meet the unique healthcare needs of older adults.”

And in a separate letter to Sen. Boxer (pdf), the AGS notes that the legislation, “makes important strides toward enacting key recommendations of the Institute of Medicine report, Retooling for an Aging America: Building the Health Care Workforce, which concluded that the nation’s elder healthcare workforce is too small and too unprepared to meet the healthcare needs of the rapidly growing number of older Americans.”