Support and grow our health care workforce
States all across the country face a health care worker shortage but Pennsylvania’s is lagging behind. The commonwealth has one of the most severe nurse shortages in the country along with shortfalls in all vital health care positions from behavioral health professionals to primary care physicians to lab technicians.
Like many workplaces today, hospitals and health care facilities face employee turnover, burnout and fierce competition in the labor market. On top of that, the health care workforce is aging. The increased pace of retirements make it challenging to recruit, educate and train enough workers quickly enough to fill the gaps.
The health care industry also is dealing with a few unique hurdles – professional licensing wait times and other credentialing issues that drive practitioners from Pennsylvania, restrictions that prevent current professionals from stepping in to fill the gaps, and millions in available behavioral health funding that needs legislative approval before it can be distributed.
Hospitals Taking the Lead
Hospitals and health systems across the state are working with school districts, colleges and universities to create novel programs to help develop the next generation of health care workers. From offering free tuition in exchange for a commitment to work at a hospital to allowing high school students to intern in hospitals, the industry continues to look for out-of-the-box thinking to take care of Pennsylvanans now and in the future.
#GrowPAHealth
Real Solutions
Quality of care and access to care will suffer if these circumstances continue. All Pennsylvanians deserve access to quality, timely health care, and our health care workforce and hospitals deserve support to ensure they can deliver on that promise.
We have developed comprehensive policy recommendations to serve as a roadmap for growing and supporting Pennsylvania’s health care talent.
Our fundamental recommendation is for the state to create a Health Care Workforce Council, led by a Chief Health Care Talent Officer, within the governor’s office.
Through this council, the administration, General Assembly and the health care community would work collaboratively to:
Prioritize health care talent infrastructure
- make it easier for clinicians to get licensed and credentialed
- fully operationalize interstate licensure compacts
- collect data to inform policymakers about health care workforce needs
Support health care workers
- make health care education more affordable and accessible
- promote health careers and develop career pathways
- promote diversity within the health care workforce
- offer incentives for health care professionals to work as educators and preceptors
Strengthen the health care community
- cut red tape
- advance telehealth
- encourage innovation
- adopt technology and operating models that allow providers to focus more on patient care
What’s at Stake
PA’s health care workforce shortages are leading the nation, and not in a good way.
Worst for registered nurses
shortfall
3rd worst for mental health professionals
shortfall
3rd worst for registered nurses
shortfall
(Source: Mercer, “2021 U.S. health care labor market)
High Provider Vacancy Rates
A Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania’s November 2022 survey of Pennsylvania hospitals found that vacancy rates for many hospital staff positions increased significantly from 2019. Vacancy rates averaged more than 30% for many key positions that make up patient care teams.
Among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties, 63 are entirely or partially primary care health professional shortage areas and 53 are entirely or partially mental health HPSAs.
Impact on Pennsylvania
Residents of Pennsylvania already are feeling the effects of the shortages. They affect how long you have to wait for an appointment with primary care doctors and specialists and for lab work to be completed. Medical staff in hospitals are overloaded with work and wait times in ERs can be extensive.
Hospitals are vital parts of the communities they serve, providing life saving and preventive care and often serving as a community hub for their neighbors. Sadly, the workforce shortages can even lead to shut downs of entire hospital programs, especially in rural and underserved areas.
The problems created by health care workforce shortages extend beyond the medical care that’s available. Hospitals are economic engines for our state and communities. Pennsylvania hospitals have an economic impact of $168 billion and offer 590,000 jobs. In fact, in 59 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties, at least one hospital is among the top 10 largest employers. Continuing shortages will start to take an economic toll on many regions of the state.