Schumer: Nursing programs could lose major source of funding

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ALBANY — Three Capital Region hospitals that train nurses could lose a chief source of reimbursement due to a change in federal regulations, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, said during a news conference Tuesday.

Schumer said Albany Memorial Hospital would lose more than $550,000, Ellis Hospital in Schenectady more than $600,000 and Samaritan Hospital in Troy more than $650,000 after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid reinterpreted regulations that govern hospital-based nursing school reimbursement.

The hospitals receive Medicare funds to train hundreds of nurses for an associate's degree. Medicare is the largest source of federal support for nursing education, Schumer said.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, which administers Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement programs, started pulling federal funding and requesting reimbursement from at least four hospital-based nursing programs throughout the country, but Schumer said it is unknown when they will try to implement these changes in New York.

Schumer said he introduced legislation to ensure the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid continues to fund the hospital-based nursing education programs.

“This cavalier, slash-and-burn attitude towards our nursing education programs is over the top and must be stopped. At a time when we face a severe shortage of nurses and nursing faculty, the feds want to cut millions of dollars from vital hospital-based teaching programs,” Schumer said in a news release.

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comments

November 28, 2008 6:41 p.m. [ Suggest removal ]

OBAMABOY ( no real name given ) says... I belive the goverment should not take the money away. I think Shumer will do what is right so I am not worried.