ENROLLED
2022 Regular Session
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 155
BY REPRESENTATIVE TURNER
A RESOLUTION
To create and provide for a study group to evaluate options and make recommendations for
reforming healthcare workforce training and development in this state and to report
its findings concerning these matters to the House of Representatives of the
Legislature of Louisiana.
WHEREAS, Louisiana's healthcare professionals are indispensable to our families
and communities; and
WHEREAS, because healthcare workforce needs are ever-changing, our state must
implement reforms to create a dynamic system for identifying and fulfilling these needs; and
WHEREAS, fostering the training of sufficient numbers of healthcare professionals
such as physician assistants and nurse practitioners, as well as allied health professionals
who work in primary care settings, will assist in making primary care services more
accessible to the people of our state; and
WHEREAS, in conjunction with existing programs for the training of family
physicians, renewing efforts to increase the ranks of highly trained physician assistants,
nurses, and allied health professionals practicing in Louisiana will lead to a much-improved
healthcare delivery system for our state; and
WHEREAS, community hospitals, rural hospitals, and other health systems offering
healthcare workforce training in affiliation or association with accredited institutions of
higher education will help in meeting the need for health care in our state's many health
professional shortage areas and medically underserved communities; and
WHEREAS, because Louisiana has a pronounced shortage of nurses, and this
shortage has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, stimulating a greater supply of
nurses and improving career ladders for these essential healthcare workers are vital public
health priorities of this state; and
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WHEREAS, this state would benefit from a thorough study which identifies the
parties who have responsibility for oversight of educational programs that produce
healthcare professionals and yields recommendations concerning the extent to which
healthcare professional licensing boards should have influence on the structure and operation
of such programs; and
WHEREAS, the ideal study would look broadly across the careers that require
undergraduate credentialing, both in Louisiana and across other states, to establish what level
of consistency of approach is appropriate for the teaching and training of nurses and other
essential healthcare professionals; and
WHEREAS, it is necessary to determine where oversight lies currently, and where
it should properly lie, in the formation and delivery of healthcare professional education
programs.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives of the
Legislature of Louisiana does hereby create a study group to evaluate options and make
recommendations for reforming healthcare workforce training and development in this state.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the study group shall be composed of the
following members:
(1) The secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health or his designee.
(2) One member appointed by the chairman of the Board of Supervisors of
Community and Technical Colleges.
(3) One member appointed by the chairman of the Board of Supervisors of Louisiana
State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College.
(4) One member appointed by the chairman of the Board of Supervisors of Southern
University and Agricultural and Mechanical College.
(5) One member appointed by the chairman of the Board of Supervisors for the
University of Louisiana System.
(6) One member appointed by the chairman of the board of directors of the
Louisiana Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.
(7) One member appointed by the president of the Louisiana Hospital Association.
(8) One member appointed by the president of the Louisiana State Nurses
Association.
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(9) One member appointed by the executive director of the Louisiana State Medical
Society.
(10) One member appointed by the president of the Louisiana Association of Nurse
Practitioners.
(11) One member appointed by the executive director of the Louisiana Nursing
Home Association.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the member appointed by the chairman of the
Board of Supervisors of Community and Technical Colleges shall serve as chairman of the
study group.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the matters which the study group shall examine
are to include, without limitation, all of the following:
(1) Healthcare workforce training and development priorities for Louisiana.
(2) Optimal uses of funds appropriated by the legislature for healthcare education
and training.
(3) Standards and guidelines for health professions education and training programs
funded through legislative appropriations.
(4) Outcomes data from health professions education and training programs.
(5) Systems for prioritizing health professions education and training needs of
Louisiana communities.
(6) Options for developing a statewide health professions education and training
funding strategy.
(7) Sources of funding to stimulate expansion of health professions education and
training.
(8) Sources of technical assistance and support for establishing new health
professions education and training programs in Louisiana.
(9) Means for establishing and enhancing health professions career ladders and
pathways.
(10) Means for induction of new workers into Louisiana's healthcare workforce and
for retention of the state's existing healthcare workforce.
(11) Inefficiencies in current healthcare professional licensure and credentialing
systems and impediments to increasing the number of healthcare workers produced.
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(12) The extent to which healthcare professional licensing boards should have
influence on the structure and operation of educational programs that produce healthcare
professionals.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the study group shall submit its findings
regarding the matters enumerated in this Resolution, as well as any other findings concerning
healthcare workforce training and development as deemed appropriate by the chairman of
the study group, in the form of a report to the elected members of the House of
Representatives of the Legislature of Louisiana and the David R. Poynter Legislative
Research Library no later than thirty days prior to the convening of the 2023 Regular
Session.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that legislative authority for the study group shall
terminate on July 1, 2023.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health, the chairman of the Board of Supervisors
of Community and Technical Colleges, the chairman of the Board of Supervisors of
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, the chairman of the
Board of Supervisors of Southern University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, the
chairman of the Board of Supervisors for the University of Louisiana System, the chairman
of the board of directors of the Louisiana Association of Independent Colleges and
Universities, the president of the Louisiana Hospital Association, the president of the
Louisiana State Nurses Association, the executive director of the Louisiana State Medical
Society, the president of the Louisiana Association of Nurse Practitioners, and the executive
director of the Louisiana Nursing Home Association.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
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