Talent Tuesday: The Healthcare Workforce

Taking a break from who is hiring and who was hired, we rounded up some reading on the state of the healthcare workforce. Like many things in our lives for the past two years the pandemic has taken a toll on it. The healthcare workforce might be on the top of the list of disruption. With 18% of healthcare workers having left their jobs and another 12% being laid off, what are the solutions for healthcare as a whole? You can’t open a paper, magazine, or watch news and not hear about the crisis that has evolved. Here are some insights and reports.

We start with a recent episode from the Healthcare Upside/Down radio show.


What Would Florence Think with Maria Suarez, President and Ralph Eques, Executive Director from the Nursing Consortium of South Florida. Increasing demands, an aging population that not only seeks and needs more care but also includes many of the very nurses we need. The pandemic added further stressors to an already strained system pushing many towards breaking point and creating some uncomfortable economic drivers around the country. The staff remaining skew towards a younger set with less experience adding to the stress and burnout. Solutions to nursing shortages come in all shapes and sizes.

This week your better pill to swallow is to return nursing to the calling that it has always been and still is. Create flexible programs and working environments that support the improved work life balance that will attract and retain the nurses of the future.

HIMSS – March 14-18 in Orlando

Session Category: Workforce
HIMSS22 education sessions are led by world-renowned healthcare and innovation thought leaders and explore top-of-mind issues and challenges. Best of all, they are available for continuing education credits. Check out the workforce session, there are 18 of them.

Senate Hearing On Pandemic-Related Workforce Shortage In Health Care Emphasizes The Need For Immediate Action
In a hearing before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety held recently, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle expressed their commitment to addressing the health care labor crisis that has grown increasingly more severe as the pandemic continues. Read AHCA/NCAL’s statement for the record on the hearing. Watch the full hearing.

Survey: Healthcare Financial Leaders Rank Competitive Talent Market, Vaccine Mandates and Burnout as Biggest Workforce Challenges
AKASA™ (@akasahealth), a developer of AI for healthcare operations, released findings from a new survey where healthcare finance leaders ranked the biggest challenges in recruiting and retention within the revenue cycle as healthcare organizations navigate significant staffing gaps across the board.

AMA Cost Analysis Examines Primary Care Physician Turnover
Nearly one billion dollars in annual excess health care expenditure are due to turnover of primary care physicians, and work-related burnout is a significant driver of those costs, according to a new AMA-led study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings. The new analysis found that job turnover in the primary care physician workforce leads to an additional $979 million in annual excess health care costs across the U.S. population, with $260 million (27%) attributable to burnout. The cost analysis is based on a pre-pandemic annual turnover estimate of 11,339 primary care physicians. Out of the total annual estimate, burnout-related turnover was estimated to impact 3006 primary care physicians.

Staffing Resource Center
MGMA
Twitter: @MGMA

With physician burnout on the rise and engagement on the decline, it can feel like there’s nothing you can do to combat the staffing shortage impacting the healthcare industry. Check out their list of best resources to help you restore your staffing levels and make it through the twilight of this pandemic. You can do this, and we’re here to help.

2022 Healthcare Workforce Rescue Package
All In WellBeing First for Healthcare
Twitter: @AllIn4WellBeing

Two years into a global pandemic, healthcare team members are in crisis. Leaders are bombarded with competing messages about how to support them and address workforce shortages. A group of experts in collaboration with the National Academy of Medicine identified the top five actions leaders should take to support team members now. These evidence-based actions can be initiated within 3 months and build a foundation for a long-term system well-being strategy.