President Donald Trump used a Truth Social post on Monday to promote a federal-state initiative worth more than $250 million, money meant to recruit nurses to nursing homes and keep them there. The program offers grants of up to $50,000 in rural or understaffed facilities.
“The Trump Administration is proud to announce a 250 MILLION DOLLAR PLUS initiative to RECRUIT and RETAIN Nurses for Nursing Homes!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. He said the initiative would support “thousands and thousands of Nurses and Nursing Students Nationwide, including those serving rural communities.”
Trump said the fund grew after he pressed governors to contribute. “This Fund was nearly a THIRD of this amount until I stepped in, and had our Great Governors join the fight,” he wrote, calling the initiative “a BIG Win for America.”
“No one else in the HISTORY of our Country has delivered more for our Nurses and our Seniors than my Administration.”
— President Donald Trump
The program is called Nurses for Nursing Homes. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services launched it on Friday and put the nationwide total at $275 million, enough, the agency said, to support more than 4,000 nurses and nursing students.
CMS has committed $100 million of the total. States are committing at least $175 million more. The money comes from civil monetary penalties collected by CMS and the states from nursing homes, not from tax revenue.
Nursing students and licensed nurses may qualify for up to $40,000 in student loan repayment, a $10,000 stipend, or both, CMS said. In exchange, they commit to three years of work at a qualifying nursing home in a rural or higher labor-shortage area. Participants must hold an active registered nurse or licensed practical or vocational nurse license and work at least 30 hours a week.
All 50 states and the District of Columbia are participating. Every rural nursing facility is eligible, along with additional facilities in areas with higher labor shortages, according to CMS. Applications opened Monday through the Nurses for Nursing Homes website. Nurses who began work at an eligible nursing home between July 28 and Oct. 25 can still qualify under an exception window that runs through Jan. 24.
“President Trump is strengthening the nursing workforce that millions of older Americans rely on every day,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in the CMS announcement.
CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said the loan repayment gives nurses financial relief and helps families who want quality care for their relatives. “Without taking a dime from taxpayers, CMS is empowering the next generation of nurses to pursue their dreams,” Oz said.
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