Outside Section 61
Data Current as of: 8/10/2018
Nursing and Allied Health Workforce Development Trust Fund
SECTION 61.
Chapter 305 of the acts of 2008 is hereby amended by striking out section 33 and inserting in place thereof the following section:-
Section 33. (a) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, there shall be established and set up on the books of the commonwealth a separate fund to be known as the Massachusetts Nursing and Allied Health Workforce Development Trust Fund to which shall be credited any appropriations, bond proceeds or other monies authorized by the general court and specifically designated to be credited thereto, and additional funds, including federal grants or loans or private donations made available to the secretary of health and human services for this purpose. The executive office of health and human services shall hold the fund in an account separate and apart from other funds or accounts. Amounts credited to the fund shall be expended by the secretary of health and human services to carry out subsection (b). Any balance in the fund at the close of a fiscal year shall be available for expenditure in subsequent fiscal years and shall not revert to the General Fund.
(b) The fund shall be used to develop and support short-term and long-term strategies to increase the number of public higher education faculty members and students who participate in programs that support careers in fields related to nursing and allied health. The secretary of health and human services may expend such funds as necessary for the administration of the Massachusetts Nursing and Allied Health Workforce Development Initiative. In furtherance of these public purposes, the secretary of health and human services shall expend funds in the Massachusetts Nursing and Allied Health Workforce Development Trust Fund for activities that are calculated to increase the number and diversity of nursing and allied health faculty and students and improve the nursing and allied health educational offerings available in public higher education institutions. Grants and other disbursements and activities may involve, without limitation, organizations that provide health care services, state and community colleges, higher education institutions, business and industry partnerships, regional alliances, workforce investment boards, organizations granted tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and other community groups which support and promote the nursing profession and the health of people living in the commonwealth. Grants and other disbursements and activities may support, without limitation: (i) the goal of rapidly increasing the number of nurses and allied health workers; (ii) enhancing the role of the system of public and private higher education, as institutions and in partnerships with other stakeholders, in meeting the short-term and long-term workforce challenges in the nursing and allied health professions; (iii) the development and use of innovative curricula, courses, programs and modes of delivering education in nursing and allied health professions for faculty and students in these fields; (iv) activities with the growing network of stakeholders in the nursing and allied health professions to create, implement, share and make broadly and publicly available best practices and innovative programs relative to instruction, development of partnerships and expanding and maintaining faculty and student involvement in careers in these fields; and (v) strengthening the institutional capacity to develop and implement long-term programs and policies to effectively respond to these challenges.
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