On May 26. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) signed into law the Nurse and Patient Safety Act, which focuses on workplace violence prevention, nurse burnout, and loan forgiveness.
The bill includes a number of provisions to strengthen the nurse workforce in Minnesota, such as:
- Expanding eligibility for the Hospital Nursing Education Loan Forgiveness program to allow direct care nurses at nonprofit hospitals to qualify.
- Requiring hospitals to develop written action plans to target incidents of violence in the workplace and submit annual reports to the legislature.
- Requiring the Minnesota Commission of Health to publish a report on the current status of the state’s nursing workforce employed by hospitals.
Contact Senior Director of Policy Erin O’Malley at eomalley@essentialhospitals.org or 202.585.0127 with questions.
