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 few 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.
In the News
Futuro Health Receives $1 Million Commitment from JPMorganChase to Strengthen and Grow the Healthcare Workforce
Futuro Health, has received a $1 million commitment from JPMorganChase to launch a national Healthcare Workforce Resilience Initiative (HWRI). Through this Initiative, Futuro Health will help employers build their workforce by providing current and prospective employees with the in-demand credentials and qualifications needed for today’s healthcare workforce to succeed. This Initiative builds on Futuro Health’s efforts to address the critical shortage of healthcare workers through its national nonprofit mission to improve the health and well-being of communities by growing the largest network of allied health workers in the nation.
Bill would Fight Doctor Shortages by Addressing Green-Card Backlog
The AMA is backing a bipartisan, bicameral bill that would “recapture” 15,000 unused immigrant visas for physicians and 25,000 unused immigrant visas for nurses to help alleviate the physician and health-professional shortage in the United States. The legislation would also exempt unused visas from per-country caps while ensuring that visa recipients don’t displace U.S. physicians.
Heritage Valley Health System School of Nursing Partners with Sophia Learning to Bolster Nursing Workforce Pipeline
As the U.S. faces a critical healthcare workforce shortage, the Heritage Valley Health System School of Nursing, part of the Pennsylvania regional healthcare provider Heritage Valley Health System, announced a new partnership with Sophia Learning, an online, on-demand, self-paced learning platform. This collaboration enables students to complete their nursing degree more efficiently by taking select online college-level general education courses that have been pre-approved for transfer to its School of Nursing.
University of Maryland School of Medicine to Expand MD Program Class Size to Address Growing Physician Shortage
The University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) announced that it has received approval from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) to expand its MD program class size over the next five years. This strategic initiative aims to help address the projected nationwide shortage of both primary care and specialty physicians.
HHS Unveils AI Strategy to Transform Agency Operations
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released its AI Strategy, the next phase of the Department’s transformative initiative to make artificial intelligence (AI) available to the federal workforce, integrating it across internal operations, research, and public health. It fulfills HHS’ commitment to utilize leading technologies to enhance efficiency, foster American innovation, improve patient outcomes, and Make America Healthy Again.
Warning: Federal Student Loan Proposal Threatens Healthcare Workforce and Patient Care
The Pennsylvania State Nurses Association is urging the U.S. Department of Education to nix a proposal that would severely limit graduate nursing students to smaller loans than other professionals. PSNA CEO Wayne Reich said Pennsylvania nurses join nurses across the nation in speaking out. More than 200,000 people have signed a national petition urging the Department of Education to reverse its course. Reich himself is a nurse. He worked at patient bedsides for more than a decade before leaving to work for PSNA.
UNT Dallas unveils $100 million STEM facility to address healthcare workforce shortages
The University of North Texas at Dallas (UNT Dallas) marked a major milestone recently, celebrating the ribbon cutting of its highly anticipated $100 million STEM facility, a transformational academic center designed to strengthen North Texas’ healthcare and science workforce pipeline.
OneQuest Health, NKU secures $100k to combat mental health workforce shortages
To address the shortage of mental healthcare professionals in Kentucky, OneQuest Health and Northern Kentucky University are putting $100,000 in scholarships to develop the next generation of counselors. The funding, awarded through the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education’s Healthcare Workforce Investment Fund, will directly support students in NKU’s Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling program.
Prolink and Grapefruit Health Launch Innovative Partnership to Build the Next Generation of Nursing Talent and Close Gaps in Patient Care
Prolink, a premier workforce solutions firm, and Grapefruit Health, the first organization to mobilize a national workforce of clinical students, announced a strategic partnership aimed at strengthening the nursing workforce of tomorrow, while helping hospitals and healthcare facilities address critical gaps in patient care.
To Read
National Governors Association
Governors’ Health Priorities in 2025 – Through emergency response, behavioral health investments, maternal health protections, nutrition innovations, rural health transformation, and workforce development, Governors have demonstrated that effective governance requires evidence-based policymaking, cross-agency coordination, and sustained political will.
Governors confronted complex challenges with innovative solutions grounded in evidence and adapted to local contexts. As highlighted at the 2025 Health and Human Services Policy Advisors Institute, states continue navigating evolving federal policies, fiscal constraints, and persistent health disparities through gubernatorial leadership.
Los Angeles Times
US needs immigrants to sustain the health care workforce – By Bedassa Tadesse – As Americans gather for holiday celebrations, many will quietly give thanks for the health care workers who keep their families and friends well: the ICU nurse who stabilized a grandparent, the doctor who adjusted a tricky prescription, the home health aide who ensures an aging relative can bathe and eat safely.
Will most of us notice how many of these professionals are foreign-born? Will we recognize how immigration policies shaped in Washington today could determine whether our families can get care?
Wolters Kluwer Survey: Physician Assistant Workforce Steps up Amid Clinician Shortages, Fragmented Care Landscape, and Changing Patient Demands
According to new survey findings from Wolters Kluwer Health, AI is a fixture in clinical practice for physician assistants (PAs), also referred to as physician associates, with 56% reporting daily use and 19% relying on AI extensively. The most popular use cases for AI are clinical documentation (61%) and ambient scribe technologies for patient interaction notetaking (48%).
Future Forecast: The Growing Impact of PAs in the Healthcare Ecosystem shows that even with this robust adoption, nearly nine in ten PAs (87%) acknowledge the need to learn more about AI, and 83% desire more formal, employer-led training. Additionally, 89% of respondents say that AI will be a force that dramatically changes PA practice. Yet only 32% report having clear workplace guidelines for safe AI usage, a gap that underscores the urgency for structured training, support, and policy in the face of rapid technological change.
4 Trends That Will Shape the Workforce in 2026: Grind Culture, Demoralized Healthcare Workers, Deskless Employees, and Proactive Resilience
Employers will face significant risks to employee well-being if grind culture and demoralization are not addressed, according to meQuilibrium (meQ), the world’s leading workforce resilience expert. On the bright side, deskless workers will lead the charge on self-improvement, and employers will prioritize proactive resilience. meQ has identified four trends that will shape the workforce in 2026:
American Hospital Association
Health Care Workforce: A System Under Pressure, Poised for Reinvention – Hospitals and health systems head into 2026 facing familiar but intensifying headwinds. High labor costs, inflation, supply chain volatility and financial pressures continue to squeeze operating budgets. At the same time, demand for care is rising as the U.S. population ages and patient needs grow more complex.
Layer onto that an exhausted workforce still carrying the weight of years of strain. Burnout, vacancies and administrative burden remain top concerns for health care leaders across the country.
Yet the AHA’s newly released “2026 Health Care Workforce Scan” offers more than a snapshot of persistent challenges. It presents a field in motion, one actively redesigning care, restructuring teams and rethinking how to build a sustainable workforce for the future.