special project grants and contracts

special project grants and contracts Sec. 931. (a) Title VIII is amended by inserting after subpart HI of part A (as added by section 921 of this title) the following: “Subpart IV—Special Projects “special project grants and contracts Sec. 820. (a) The Secretary may make grants to public and non-profit private schools of nursing and other public or nonprofit private entities, and enter into contracts with any public or private entity, to meet the costs of special projects to— “(1) assist in— “(A) mergers between hospital training programs or between hospital training programs and academic institutions, or “(B) other cooperative arrangements among hospitals and academic institutions, leading to the establishment of nurse training programs; “(2) (A) plan, develop, or establish new nurse training pro-grams or programs of research in nursing education, or “(B) significantly improve curricula of schools of nursing (including curriculums of pediatric nursing and geriatric nursing) or modify existing programs of nursing education; “(3) increase nursing education opportunities for individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds, as determined in accordance with criteria prescribed by the Secretary, by— 89 STAT. 360 “(A) identifying, recruiting, and selecting such individuals, “(B) facilitating the entry of such individuals into schools of nursing, “(C) providing counseling or other services designed to assist such individuals to complete successfully their nursing education. “(D) providing, for a period prior to the entry of such individuals into the regular course of education at a school of nursing, preliminary education designed to assist them to complete successfully such regular course of education, “(E) paying such stipends (including allowances for travel and dependents) as the Secretary may determine for such individuals for any period of nursing education, and “(F) publicizing, especially to licensed vocational or practical nurses, existing sources of financial aid available to persons enrolled in schools of nursing or who are under-taking training necessary to qualify them to enroll in such schools; “(4) provide continuing education for nurses; “(5) provide appropriate retraining opportunities for nurses who (after periods of professional inactivity) desire again actively to engage in the nursing profession; “(6) help to increase the supply or improve the distribution by geographic area or by specialty group of adequately trained nursing personnel (including nursing personnel who are bilingual) needed to meet the health needs of the Nation, including the need to increase the availability of personal health services and the need to promote preventive health care; “(7) provide training and education to upgrade the skills of licensed vocational or practical nurses, nursing assistants, and other paraprofessional nursing personnel; or “(8) assist in meeting the costs of developing short-term (not to exceed 6 months) in-service training programs for nurses aides and orderlies tor nursing homes, which programs emphasize the special problems of geriatric patients and include training for monitoring the well-being and feeding and cleaning of the patients in nursing homes, emergency procedures, drug properties and interactions, and fire safety techniques. Contracts may be entered into under this subsection without regard to sections 3648 and 3709 of the Revised Statutes (31 U.S.C. 529; 41 U.S.C. 5). “(b) The Secretary may, with the advice of the National Advisory Council on Nurse Training, provide assistance to the heads of other departments and agencies of the Government to encourage and assist in the utilization of medical facilities under their jurisdiction for nurse training programs. “(c) No grant or contract may be made under this section unless an application therefor has been submitted to and approved by the Secretary. The Secretary may not approve or disapprove such an application except after consultation with the National Advisory Council on Nurse Training, Such an application shall provide for such fiscal control and accounting procedures and reports, and access to the records of the applicant, as the Secretary may require to assure proper disbursement of and accounting for Federal funds paid to the applicant, under this section. 89 STAT. 361 “(d) For payments under grants and contracts under this section there are authorized to be appropriated $15,000,000 for fiscal year 1976, $15,000,000 for fiscal year 1977, and $15,000,000 for fiscal year 1978. Not less than 10 per centum of the funds appropriated under this subsection for any fiscal year shall be used for payments under grants and contracts to meet the costs of the special projects described in subsection (a)(3). “advanced nurse training programs Sec. 821. (a) (1) The Secretary may make grants to and enter into contracts with public and nonprofit private collegiate schools of nursing to meet the costs of projects to— “(A) plan, develop, and operate. “(B) significantly expand, or “(C) maintain existing, programs for the advanced training of professional nurses to teach in the various fields of nurse training, to serve in administrative or supervisory capacities, or to serve in other professional nursing special-ties (including service as nurse clinicians) determined by the Secretary to require advanced training. “(b) For payments under grants and contracts under this section there are authorized to be appropriated $15,000,000 for fiscal year 1975, $20,000,000 for fiscal year 1977, and $25,000,000 for fiscal year 1978. “nurse practitioner programs Sec. 822. (a) (1) The Secretary may make grants to and enter into contracts with public or nonprofit private schools of nursing, medicine, and public health, public or nonprofit private hospitals, and other public or nonprofit private entities to meet the cost of projects to— “(A) plan, develop, and operate, “(B) significantly expand, or “(C) maintain existing, programs for the training of nurse practitioners. Tire Secretary shall give special consideration to applications for grants or contracts for programs for the training of nurse practitioners which emphasize training respecting the special problems of geriatric patients and training to meet the particular needs of nursing home patients. “(2) (A) For purposes of this section, the term ’programs for the training of nurse practitioners’ means educational programs for registered nurses (irrespective of the type of school of nursing in which the nurses received their training) which meet guidelines prescribed by the Secretary in accordance with subparagraph (B) and which have as their objective the education of nurses (including pediatric and geriatric nurses) who will, upon completion of their studies in such programs, be qualified to effectively provide primary health care, including primary health care in homes and in ambulatory care facilities, long-term care facilities, and other health care institutions. “(B) After consultation with appropriate educational organizations and professional nursing and medical organizations, the Secretary shall prescribe guidelines for programs for the training of nurse practitioners. Such guidelines shall, as a minimum, require that such a program— “(i) extend for at least one academic year and consist of— “(I) supervised clinical practice, and 89 STAT. 362 “(II) at least four months (in the aggregate) of classroom instruction, directed toward preparing nurses to deliver primary health care; and “(ii) have an enrollment of not less than eight students. “(b) No grant may be made or contract entered into for a project to plan, develop, and operate a program for the training of nurse practitioners unless the application for the grant or contract contains assurances satisfactory to the Secretary that the program will upon its development meet the guidelines which are in effect under subsection (a) (2) (B); and no grant may be made or contract entered into for a project to expand or maintain such a program unless the application for the grant or contract contains assurances satisfactory to the Secretary that the program meets the guidelines which are in effect under such subsection. “(c) The costs for which a grant or contract under this section may lie made may include costs of preparation of faculty members in order to conform to the guidelines established under subsection (a) (2) (B). “(d) For payments under grants and contracts under this section there are authorized to be appropriated $15,000,000 for fiscal year 1976, $20,000,000 for fiscal year 1977, and $25,000,000 for fiscal year 1978.”. (b) Sections 810 and 868 are repealed.