HR392-119

What This Bill Does

The PRECEPT Nurses Act creates a personal tax credit for clinical nursing educators in shortage areas. A licensed registered nurse or qualifying health care provider may claim a $2,000 credit if the person serves at least 200 hours during the taxable year as a nurse preceptor in a community designated as a health professional shortage area under the Public Health Service Act. IRS must publish annually on its website the areas that qualify. A nurse preceptor is someone who provides supervision, personalized experiential learning, training, instruction, and mentoring in clinical nursing practice to a nursing student, advanced practice registered nursing student, or newly hired licensed nurse within the first six months of employment. The credit is not allowed unless the preceptor receives certification showing the required hours. The certification must come from the relevant partnering academic institution for students or from the clinical site for newly hired nurses, and must state the number of hours served. The bill is designed to increase clinical precepting capacity where nursing shortages are most acute by compensating experienced nurses for time spent training the next workforce.

Who Benefits and How

Nurse preceptors benefit from a $2,000 federal income tax credit for at least 200 hours of qualifying clinical teaching. Nursing students benefit if more preceptors are willing to supervise required clinical placements in shortage areas. Newly hired licensed nurses benefit from more structured mentoring during their first six months of employment. Health professional shortage areas benefit if the credit expands local clinical training capacity. Schools of nursing benefit because preceptor shortages are a bottleneck for student placement and program growth.

Who Bears the Burden and How

IRS tax administration staff must publish annual shortage-area lists and administer the new section 25F credit. Academic nursing programs must certify preceptor hours for nursing students and advanced practice nursing students. Clinical sites must certify hours for newly hired licensed nurses. Federal taxpayers bear the cost of the tax expenditure. Preceptors below the 200-hour threshold cannot claim the credit.

Key Provisions

• Creates a $2,000 income tax credit for eligible nurse preceptors.
• Requires at least 200 hours of precepting in a health professional shortage area.
• Defines precepting to include clinical supervision and mentoring for nursing students, advanced practice nursing students, and newly hired licensed nurses.
• Requires certification from an academic institution or clinical site before the credit is allowed.
• Directs IRS to publish qualifying health professional shortage areas annually.