According to the American Hospital Association’s AHA News:
The AHA and American Society for Healthcare Human Resources Administration Friday expressed support for H.R. 5924, legislation to alleviate the nation’s growing shortage of nurses. In a letter to sponsors Reps. Robert Wexler (D-FL) and James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), the groups said, “Your bill will help address our current domestic shortage by providing an exemption from current employment-based visa caps for nurses. It also helps address domestic supply by establishing a program to help prepare more nurse educators.” U.S. hospitals had more than 116,000 registered nurse vacancies last year, and the Department of Health and Human Services estimates the nation will need 2.8 million new nurses by 2020. In addition, nearly 150,000 qualified U.S. applicants were turned away from domestic nursing schools in 2006 due to a shortage of faculty and space. ASHHRA is an AHA personal membership group for human resource managers in hospitals and other health care facilities.