Nurse education, practice, quality and retention - workforce expansion program - retain-RNS: partnering to expand and retain south dakota's nursing workforce in acute and long-term care settings…

The Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration Bureau of Health Professionals awarded Avera Health $2.841 million under the Nurse Education, Practice, Quality and Retention Grants program (CFDA 93.359) on September 30, 2025, for the RETAIN-RNS project to expand and retain South Dakota's nursing workforce in acute and long-term care settings.

Avera Health and South Dakota State University (SDSU), through an academic-clinical partnership, will prepare bachelor's and registered nurses for careers in rural acute and long-term care settings by providing education in cultural awareness, social determinants of health, health equity, and health literacy. The program will increase nursing student enrollment, retention, and graduation from associate and baccalaureate nursing degree programs; expand undergraduate nursing student training in acute and long-term care settings; increase post-graduation employment of undergraduate nurses in acute and long-term care; and grow the preceptor and clinical faculty workforce to train nursing students. Experiential training in rural acute and long-term care settings, along with program evaluation from both the health system and educational organization, will prepare the next generation of rural nurses.

The performance period runs through September 29, 2029, with place of performance in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. SDSU serves as sub-grantee, delivering academic and clinical partnership components under sub-award TR855413-GT_0148_S1Y1, awarded January 29, 2026.

Nurse education, practice, quality and retention - workforce expansion program - retain-RNS: partnering to expand and retain south dakota's nursing workforce in acute and long-term care settings will prepare bsns and RNS for careers in rural acute and long-term care settings by providing education in cultural awareness, social determinants of health, health equity, and health literacy. Following the national trend, south dakota's most acute health workforce need is certainly its nursing staff ratios in rural areas. In response to this crisis, avera seeks to apply the workforce expansion program to the continuation of an academic-clinical partnership with south dakota state university (sdsu) to improve and increase interest in rural nursing by exposing nursing students to both acute and long-term rural settings. In response to the historic nursing shortage, retain-RNS will offer increased exposure to rural practice in acute and long-term care settings by providing program evaluation from a health system and an educational organization, better preparing the next generation of RNS by providing experiential training in acute and long-term care settings. Avera is requesting $4,000,000 over a four-year performance period. Program goals include 1) increase the number of nursing students enrolled in, retained, and graduated from associate and/or baccalaureate nursing degree programs 2) increase the number of undergraduate nursing students receiving additional specialized training in acute and long-term settings; 3) increase the number of undergraduate nurses employed in acute and long-term care settings post-graduation; and 4) increase the number of preceptors and clinical faculty to train nursing students in associate and/or baccalaureate nursing degree programs. This program seeks to expand these goals by supporting the professional development of preceptors and nursing students, identifying potential preceptors through various initiatives at avera, developing a clinical immersion program allowing students the opportunity for more robust experiential learning in both acute and long-term care facilities. The program will substantially benefit underserved south dakota counties: brown, minnehaha, mcpherson, moody, potter, gregory, davison, hughes, spink, BON homme, jerauld, and yankton. Within the proposed program period, all educational and experiential training sites are located in rural, underserved communities. Avera health, the lead applicant, is the parent organization for a vertically integrated health system. Partner organization, south dakota state university, is the largest college of nursing in south dakota with over 635 enrolled BSN students. The rural experiential acute and long-term care training sites include: avera mother joseph manor retirement community, avera ST. Luke's hospital, avera dells area hospital, dells nursing and rehab center, avera eureka health care center, eureka community health services avera, avera flandreau hospital, riverview healthcare center, avera oahe manor, avera missouri river health center, avera rosebud country care center, avera gregory hospital, avera bready health and rehab, avera queen of peace, avera bormann manor, avera ST. Benedict, avera maryhouse, avera ST. Mary's, landmann-jungman memorial hospital avera, sunset manor avera, wakonda heritage manor avera, weskota manor avera, avera weskota memorial hospital, avera sacred heart majestic bluffs, avera FOX run health campus, avera sacred heart hospital, and sunset manor avera. Avera health is requesting a funding preference based on qualifications 1 and 2, as demonstrated in attachment 6.