The United States is currently experiencing a nursing shortage, which has contributed to negative patient outcomes and increased burnout among the existing nursing workforce. Recent analyses by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) project a shortage of nearly 80,000 full-time registered nurses (RNs) this year, and a shortage of over 63,000 full-time RNs in 2030.¹ These shortages are estimated to have larger impacts on nonmetro areas.²

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the U.S. will need almost 32,000 new advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs)³ and nearly 200,000 RNs each year through 2032 to address the rising demand.⁴ Despite this need, nursing programs turned away over 65,000 qualified applications in 2023 due to a lack of available faculty and limited clinical placement opportunities for students.⁴

The role of a nurse preceptor requires extensive training, which is often at the nurse's own expense, in addition to managing an increasing workload and facing a lack of institutional support. The Providing Real-World Education and Clinical Experience by Precepting Tomorrow’s (PRECEPT) Nurses Act (H.R. 392/S.131) would help address the national nursing shortage by incentivizing experienced nurses to serve as clinical preceptors to incoming nursing students. This initiative seeks to improve access to clinical training and support the overall nursing workforce.

Specifically, this legislation would:

• Establish a seven-year pilot program offering a $2,000 nonrefundable tax credit to eligible nurses who precept nursing students, advanced practice nurse candidates, or new nurses within six months of hire in a designated health professional shortage area, as defined by the Public Health Service Act; and
• Require the Secretary of the Treasury to report to Congress on the number of taxpayers using this credit, aggregated and averaged data on the preceptorships served by taxpayers as an eligible nurse preceptor, and the effectiveness of the tax credit in increasing the number of nurse preceptors in the U.S.

Read the full text of the bill and contact your legislators today!

1. National Center for Health Workforce Analysis. (2022, November). Nursing Workforce Projections, 2020-2035.
2. Id.
3. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Nurse Anesthetists, Nurse Midwives, and Nurse Practitioners, at https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/nurse-anesthetists-nurse-midwives-and-nurse-practitioners.htm (visited August 14, 2025).
4. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Registered Nurses, at https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/registered-nurses.htm (visited July 08, 2025).
5. American Association of Colleges and Nursing. (2024, May). Nursing Shortage Fact Sheet.