Capital Region Lawmakers Introduce Regional Preceptor Pilot Program to Help Address Healthcare Staffing Crisis

ALBANY, NY (Mar. 6) – Today, Senator Patricia Fahy (D—Albany), Assemblymember John T. McDonald, III, RPh (D—Cohoes), and Senator Jake Ashby (R,C—Castleton) announced introduction of bipartisan legislation (S.5660 Fahy/A.XXXX McDonald) that would provide $5,000 stipends to Capital Region healthcare workers who become preceptors. Preceptors are experienced practitioners who train the next generation of healthcare professionals, especially nurses, physician assistants, midwives, and more.

Preceptors mentor and supervise emerging healthcare professionals while they complete required clinical work. The stipend will encourage more local clinicians to take on this time-consuming, important role, help more students complete their clinical requirements, eliminate a cumbersome bottleneck to entering the labor force and improve industry recruitment and retention. New York State, like much of the country, is facing a critical nurse staffing crisis, and needs to hire 40,000 nurses by the year 2030 to maintain current levels of care within our healthcare system.

A statewide version of the bill was introduced last session. With tentpole provider networks like Albany Med and St. Peters, urgent industry staffing shortages and nationally recognized healthcare programs at several area colleges and universities, the Capital Region is ideally situated to prove the initiatives’ transformational statewide potential. This is a new measure aimed at closing the gap in available preceptorships.

"New York State needs to hire thousands of nurses and healthcare professionals just over the next few years to address urgent industry staffing shortages," said Senator Patricia Fahy. "Enabling preceptors, who mentor and train the next generation of healthcare professionals, to receive compensation for passing on their knowledge and experience is a key part of how we strengthen our future workforce. I'm proud to partner with Senator Ashby and Assemblymember McDonald on this initiative to recognize the importance of the work that preceptors and all of our healthcare professionals do when it comes to quality and continuum of care."

"As we consider solutions to address the healthcare workforce shortages, this legislation that I sponsor is a step in the right direction,” said bill sponsor Assemblymember John T. McDonald, RPh. “The preceptor programs allow experienced health care workers to pass their wisdom and knowledge on to the next generation of workers. By incentivizing preceptor programs we would ensure that these important mentor and educational roles are filled. Thank you to Senator Jake Ashby and Senator Patricia Fahy for partnering with me on these bills."

“At a time when reversing outmigration should be our number one priority, this program gives the next generation of healthcare professionals a big reason to embark on a career here, and it gives their professional mentors a serious incentive to stay,” said Senator Jake Ashby.

“If we don’t have enough preceptors and experienced educators, we can’t give all incoming nurses the education and experience they need and deserve. And with the critical shortage of nurses, we need to seize every opportunity to provide future nurses with the resources they need to fulfill their professional goals,” said St. Peter’s Health Partners Schools of Nursing Dean Dr. Susan Birkhead last spring. “Mentorship and clinical training is indispensable work. Let’s compensate people for it while they help us fully staff our healthcare workforce,” said Ashby. 

“I commend the legislators for introducing this much-needed regionalized preceptor stipend program for healthcare professionals. We are hopeful this program will be funded and move forward. We have seen first-hand that the shortage of preceptors—experienced healthcare professionals who mentor and guide the next generation of nurses—is one of the key barriers to expanding and sustaining our nursing workforce. Our ability to educate, train, and retain qualified nurses is critical to the future of healthcare delivery in our communities, and preceptors are the cornerstone of that effort. Without sufficient preceptor support, we cannot effectively scale our nursing programs to meet the growing demand for skilled professionals. We look forward to working with Senator Ashby to ensure this vital bill moves forward,” said Dr. Steven Hanks, President and CEO, St. Peter's Health Partners and St. Josephs's Health.

“The more than 54,000 members of the New York state Public Employees Federation support legislation to provide a paid preceptorship program for new nurses (Sen. Fahy/Assemblyman McDonald). If enacted, this program would be a real tool to attract the trained, experienced nurse preceptors needed to support, mentor and retain new nurses.  Preceptorship programs match trained, experienced clinicians with students to provide intense first-hand training to help bridge the gap between classroom education and clinical hands-on training.  These programs are critical to the continuum of support needed to attract and retain nurses in the health care industry.  We appreciate the sponsors for their work in support of this important bill and we join with them in encouraging both houses of the Legislature to adopt this bill before the end of the 2025 Legislative Session,” said Public Employees Federation President Wayne Spence. 

“This is a critical time to plan for and invest in New York’s healthcare workforce. Through this timely program, we can ease the financial burdens incurred by providers to train students and enhance skills for clinicians in the home health practice setting,” said Michelle Mazzacco, board chair of the Home Care association of New York State (HCANYS) and executive vice president of the Continuing Care Network, St. Peter's Health Partners. “HCANYS is proud to partner on this initiative. The future of our workforce depends on it.”

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