At over 4 million strong, nurses are woven into the fabric of our communities unlike any other care provider. Since 2007, three influential organizations have taken steps to better position these highly skilled professionals to improve health and health equity in America. AARP Foundation, AARP, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) fund both the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action and the Center to Champion Nursing in America, which are housed at the AARP Center for Health Equity through NursingSM.

The timeline below highlights milestones and accomplishments:

2007 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016

2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023


2007

AARP launches the Center to Champion Nursing in America (CCNA), an initiative of AARP Foundation, AARP, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to ensure everyone in America has access to a highly skilled nurse when and where they need one.


2008

Rhode Island fully modernizes its scope of practice law for nurse practitioners.


CCNA establishes two national stakeholder groups, the Champion Nursing Council and the Champion Nursing Coalition. The Council is composed of leading national nursing organizations and the Coalition features a broad spectrum of business groups and associations.


2009

Colorado and Hawaii fully modernize their scope of practice laws for nurse practitioners.


2010

The then-named Institute of Medicine (IOM) releases The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health.


AARP Foundation, AARP, and RWJF create the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action to implement the IOM’s recommendations. The Campaign starts establishing its nationwide network, which eventually comprise state Action Coalitions in 50 states plus DC, and stakeholders from the business, health, government and nursing worlds.


Five Action Coalitions (California, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey and New York) begin implementing recommendations from the Future of Nursing report.


2011

The Campaign launches its first dashboard, tracking data on nursing education, nurses serving on hospital boards and state progress in improving consumer access to nurse-led care, among other measures.


The Campaign announces the establishment of 11 more Action Coalitions: Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, New Mexico, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming.


The Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action Strategic Advisory Committee is established with experts from various professions and backgrounds to provide leadership and direction to the Campaign.


 2012

The Campaign establishes its Diversity Steering Committee to ensure that all Americans will have access to high-quality, patient-centered care in a health care system where nurses contribute as essential partners in achieving success. This committee is comprised of presidents of national minority nursing membership organizations.


RWJF provides grants to 43 Action Coalitions over five years to advance their work on IOM recommendations through the RWJF Future of Nursing: Academic Progression in Nursing Program and the RWJF Future of Nursing: State Implementation Program.


The number of nurses graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) surpasses the number of nurses graduating with an associate degree, reflecting a trend toward more education.


The Medicare Graduate Nursing Education Demonstration Project, designed to increase the number of advanced practice nurses, begins the first of its four years. This $200 million pilot, part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, was the first time in Medicare history that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services identified funding specifically for graduate nursing education.


2013

The number of employed nurses with a doctorate degree doubles, from about 8,000 in 2009 to nearly 17,000 in 2013.


The Campaign announces the establishment of 21 additional  Action Coalitions: Arkansas, District of Columbia, Hawai’i, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. Every state and the District of Columbia now have an Action Coalition.


Nevada and Rhode Island fully modernize their scope of practice laws for nurse practitioners.


Action Coalitions receiving RWJF funds to advance their work on IOM recommendations implement plans aimed at diversifying the nursing work force, with the ultimate goal that nursing reflects the communities it serves.


2014

AARP and RWJF establish the Nurses on Boards Coalition, with its goal of improving the health of communities and the nation by getting 10,000 nurses on boards by 2020.


Connecticut and Minnesota fully modernize their scope of practice laws for nurse practitioners.


New York State makes substantial improvements to its scope of practice laws for nurse practitioners.


2015

The IOM assesses progress made on its 2010 Future of Nursing report, noting successes and also urging greater emphasis on diversity.


The number of nurses graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) hits 53 percent, 4 percent more than when the Campaign began in 2010.


Thirty-two percent of pre-licensure registered nursing program graduates are from underrepresented groups.


The Campaign adds to the top of its agenda nursing’s role in building a Culture of Health.


Maryland and Nebraska fully modernize their scope of practice laws for nurse practitioners.


2016

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs lifts limits on most APRNs at VA facilities. Now nurses may treat patients regardless of state restrictions.


Two new indicators are added to the Campaign Dashboard. One measures diversity in nursing, while the other counts nurses serving in leadership positions.


2017

The Campaign expands its focus to include health equity. The shift toward social determinants of health is part of ongoing efforts to emphasize inclusion and diversity in nursing.


The number of RN-to-BSN graduates more than triples between 2009 and 2017.


RWJF releases Catalysts for Change: Harnessing the Power of Nurses to Build Population Health in the 21st Century, documenting nursing’s role in the need to prevent illness, rather than simply treat it.


The Campaign publishes Nursing Education and the Decade of Change: Strategies to Meet America’s Health Needs, highlighting historic shifts in nursing schooling.


Over seven years, the nursing workforce has become more diverse: Since 2010, the number of  RN graduates from racial and ethnic backgrounds underrepresented in nursing increases 43 percent, while the number of male RN graduates increases 29 percent. Also up: the proportions of  RN graduates from underrepresented groups and male RN graduates.


The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs lifts limits on most APRNs at VA facilities. Now nurses may treat patients regardless of state restrictions.


South Dakota fully modernizes its scope of practice law for nurse practitioners.


2018

The Campaign establishes the Nursing Innovations Fund awards program for Action Coalitions or approved affiliated organizations with creative, replicable and promising solutions for improving health equity through nursing. The 2018 Nursing Innovations Fund awards funded  projects focused on innovative ideas to advance nursing and build a Culture of Health. 


The Campaign increases its focus on health equity and renames its Diversity Steering Committee the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Steering Committee, with a revised mission to ensure all nurses help everyone experience equity in well-being, health and health care.


The Campaign launches Population Health in Nursing, a project exploring promising models of nursing education and practice related to improving population health. The Campaign publishes three reports based on this work:


2019

The Campaign teams with the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health and the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities to host mentor training programs. The goal is to increase the rates at which nursing students from underrepresented backgrounds in nursing graduate and become nurses.


The 2019 Nursing Innovations Fund awards go to Action Coalitions for projects that address nursing’s role in building a Culture of Health, promote health equity, and demonstrate  collaboration with diverse stakeholders.


2020

The 2018 National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses (NSSRN) shows that RNs with a bachelor’s degree, or higher, in nursing grew from 50 percent in 2008 to 64 percent in 2018; the nursing workforce also became more diverse in that time.


The Campaign develops a Health Equity Toolkit that provides tools, resources, and information that nurses, as well as Action Coalitions and their partners, can use to help  communities address  the social determinants of health.


California and Florida make substantial improvements in their scope of practice laws for nurse practitioners.


In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, seven states — Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Virginia and Wisconsin — temporarily provide full practice authority to nurse practitioners, allowing more access to care.


The 2020 Nursing Innovations Fund awards go to Action Coalitions for projects that strengthen nursing’s role in building a Culture of Health and promote health equity. Projects address policies that impact the many different social, economic and environmental factors that shape our health, and that will lead to greater health equity for all.


2021

Massachusetts makes permanent its COVID-19 pandemic response by fully modernizing its scope of practice law for nurse practitioners.



The Campaign, in partnership with AARP Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and AARP Global Thought Leadership team, holds a series of virtual convenings, Health Equity Action Forums, engaging a range of stakeholders, including consumer, business and health care organizations, on improving our nation’s health equity through a more diverse nursing work force.


The Campaign celebrates 10 years of nursing progress and looks ahead.


The National Academy of Medicine releases the future of nursing 2020-2030 report, The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity, a blueprint for the nursing profession to help improve health equity and reduce health disparities for the next decade.


Delaware fully modernizes its scope of practice law for nurse practitioners.


AARP launches the AARP Center for Health Equity in NursingSM (A-CHEN) a vehicle for change and national resource for advancing health equity. It stimulates, promotes, and replicates actionable solutions that eliminate disparities and create better opportunities for people to live their healthiest lives possible. A-CHEN houses the Center to Champion Nursing in America and the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action.


2022

New York and Kansas fully modernize their scope of practice laws for nurse practitioners.


The Campaign and the AARP Center for Health Equity through Nursing award more than $700,000 Health Equity & Nursing Innovations fund awards to promising solutions to eliminate structural inequities, particularly structural racism, within nursing, health systems, or community, and for projects that improve  access to care and services for all.


2023

Utah fully modernizes its scope of practice laws for nurse practitioners.


The AARP Center for Health Equity through Nursing launches the AARP Volunteer Nurse Mentor Program recruiting volunteers to mentor nursing students at minority-serving schools of nursing. 


The Campaign merges its two national stakeholder groups, Champion Nursing Coalition and Champion Nursing Council, into one coalition named the Champions for Health Equity through NursingTM. Champions pursue shared goals of improving consumer access to care, strengthening and diversifying the nursing workforce, promoting nurse leadership at all levels, and advancing health equity solutions.


The AARP Center for Health Equity through Nursing launches the AARP Volunteer Ambassador Program featuring influential nurse leaders committed to leveraging their roles to influence change in the systems in which they work and beyond.


The AARP Center for Health Equity through Nursing and the Campaign host an equity-minded nurse awards program, identifying five nurses as the first cohort of Equity-Minded Nurse Awardees, with support from national nursing organizations.


The AARP Center for Health Equity through Nursing and the Campaign update their dashboard to include data on licensed practical nurses and academia.