Question: Should we report the cost of an Emergency Department nurse to become trauma certified to increase the quality of care provided at a small, rural hospital?
Recommendation: We recommend NOT reporting the cost of training trauma nurses. The IRS instructions tell us what we can report as health professional education:
"Health professions education” means educational programs that result in a degree, a certificate, or training necessary to be licensed to practice as a health professional, as required by state law, or continuing education necessary to retain state license or certification by a board in the individual's health profession specialty. It doesn't include education or training programs available exclusively to the organization's employees and medical staff or scholarships provided to those individuals. However, it does include education programs if the primary purpose of such programs is to educate health professionals in the broader community."
(July 2022)