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During an AHA-sponsored Capitol Hill briefing today, hospital leaders discussed how COVID-19 has accelerated longstanding health care workforce challenges, including worker shortages and mental health fatigue.   
  
“We’re seeing some backlogs and increased waiting times, particularly in our emergency rooms,” said Mary Beth Kingston, R.N., chief nursing officer at Advocate Aurora Health. “We [are], as every other health care system does, doing everything we can to avoid limiting health care services or shutting down units for service lines due to workforce shortages.” 
  
David Zaas, M.D., CEO at MUSC Health-Charleston Division and chief clinical officer at MUSC Health in Charleston, S.C., said vacancy rates for all the system’s critical positions have increased. “We’ve seen the need to close beds, and even in the setting as COVID starts to decline from the most recent wave, the demands on our hospitals are up.” 
  
At the briefing, congressional staff and reporters also heard about potential short- and long-term solutions to these challenges, as well as how to preserve access to care while preparing for future health care needs. 
  
Kingston, who is a member of the AHA Board of Trustees, said the near-term focus is on worker well-being, compensation and other needs such as child care, but the health care worker pipeline must increase. “Getting to the root cause of that supply and demand is key,” said Kingston, who emphasized that worker safety must be a priority. 
  
Leonard R. Hernandez, president and CEO at Susan B. Allen Memorial Hospital in El Dorado, Kan., talked about the importance of the Provider Relief Fund to rural hospitals last year, while urging distribution of all remaining funds. “That money stretched out to this last August, and then it was gone,” he said. 
  
Robyn Begley, R.N., AHA chief nursing officer and CEO of its American Organization for Nursing Leadership, moderated the briefing.

Watch highlights of the briefing here.