Underground Networks, Gutted Budgets, and Jobs That Still Pay Well: This Week's Nurse News + Roles

Your twice-weekly roundup of nursing news, work trends, and opportunities

Welcome to Nurse Ascent, a twice-weekly newsletter created by nurses, for nurses. This week, we're covering proposed Medicaid cuts that could wipe out nearly half a million healthcare jobs, nurses in Minneapolis quietly making home visits to patients too afraid to go near a hospital, and a bipartisan bill that could finally fix the nursing faculty bottleneck that's been turning away 80,000+ qualified applicants a year. On the jobs side, we've got roles paying up to $95/hr — including a vascular access specialty position at Rady Children's in San Diego and a forensic investigator role at $128k.

But first...

Featured Jobs

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Nursing Home Administrator - Forensic Investigator, Robson Forensic

Dublin, OH

$128.9k /yr

Apply Now →

☤

Registered Nurse (RN) and/or Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) PRN | Home Health Visits for Sun City

Ruskin, FL

$33.50/hr

Apply Now →

♡

LPN or RN Monday-Friday: 7am-5pm

Branson, MO

$34/hr

Apply Now →

💉

Clinical Document Specialist RN, Full Time

Searcy, AR

$40.50/hr

Apply Now →

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Clinical Liaison RN

Nashville, TN

$84.50k/yr

Apply Now →

🩸

Care Manager RN

Aurora, CO

UCHealth

Up to $60/hr

Apply Now →

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Headlines in Healthcare

Medicaid Cuts Could Wipe Out Nearly Half a Million Healthcare Jobs

A Commonwealth Fund analysis projects that proposed federal Medicaid cuts could eliminate roughly 477,000 healthcare jobs in 2026 alone — at hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, and nursing homes — as providers lose reimbursement revenue and are forced to cut staff and services. Safety-net hospitals and rural facilities are expected to take the hardest hit, with some facing potential closure.

New Bill Aims to Fix the Nursing Faculty Shortage From the Inside

A bipartisan bill introduced in both the House and Senate called the Nurse Faculty Shortage Reduction Act would create a federal grant program to close the pay gap between clinical nurses and nurse educators, one of the primary reasons nursing schools can't recruit and retain enough faculty. More than 80,000 qualified nursing school applicants were turned away in 2024 largely because schools didn't have the instructors to teach them. The bill has the backing of major nursing organizations, including the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.

Nurses Are Building Underground Care Networks to Reach Immigrant Patients

After ICE agents began appearing in and around Minneapolis hospitals, some healthcare systems reported appointment cancellation and no-show rates as high as 60% — and nurses responded by going underground. Nurse practitioners, midwives, and volunteer clinicians have been quietly making home visits to immigrant patients too afraid to leave their apartments, including families with sick infants and children who had canceled surgeries. The reporting by KFF Health News and NPR shows that for some nurses right now, the clinic isn't where the care is happening.

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