Baltimore, MD – (June 28, 2018) – Maryland Higher Education
Commission Secretary Dr. James D. Fielder today announced that $9.6 million
was awarded to 16 Maryland nursing programs by the Maryland Higher
Education Commission (MHEC) Nurse Support Program II (NSP II).
The FY 2019 Competitive Institutional Grant awards include one-year
planning grants, three- year full implementation grants, continuation
grants, and nursing resource grants. All were approved for funding by the
Health Services Cost Review Commission (HSCRC) at its June 13 meeting.
“We need to ensure that the dedicated professionals providing healthcare
services to Marylanders are highly trained and able to adapt to the
constantly changing demands of this challenging field,” said Governor Larry
Hogan. “This program helps provide our nursing professionals with the
educational resources they need to deliver the best possible care to our
citizens.”
This joint effort between HSCRC, MHEC, and the higher education
institutions in Maryland has been successful in meeting the needs of
nursing professionals at hospitals as well as at nursing schools for more
than 30 years, providing well-educated and qualified nurses to serve
Maryland residents.
“Research shows that Maryland will soon face a nursing shortage; however,
we are confident in our ability to meet this challenge by generating
highly-educated nurses through an efficient and effective education
system,” Secretary Fielder said. “These grants help to educate nurses
through numerous programs at Maryland institutions and will address our
critical need for nurses with a baccalaureate or doctorate degree and will
ultimately increase the number of nurses in the field by 2025.”
The nine-member review panel, comprised of former NSP II grant project
directors, retired nurse educators, licensure and policy leaders, MHEC and
HSCRC staff, was responsible for reviewing the proposals. As a result, the
review panel recommended funding for 16 of the 29 total proposals. The
proposals that received the highest ratings for funding focused on nursing
graduate outcomes with partnerships across community colleges,
universities, and hospital health systems.
Over the years, the Nurse Support Program, both NSP I and NSP II
(originally Nurse Education Support Program) has been expanded to encourage
new and innovative approaches to address the challenges and demands facing
the nursing workforce. The Nurse Support Program is funded by HSCRC and
administered by MHEC. For more information, see http://mhec.maryland.gov/i
nstitutions_training/Pages/grants/nspii.aspx
