/ en Fri, 25 Apr 2025 16:23:00 -0500 Wed, 13 Nov 24 07:00:00 -0600 <div class="raw-html-embed"> </div><div class="row"><div class="col-md-8"><p>The <a href="/aha-workforce-scan" title="2025 AHA Health Care Workforce Scan">2025 Health Care Workforce Scan</a> will help you better understand the latest forces and trends affecting health care human resources. Based on a review of reports, studies and other data sources from leading organizations and researchers, it provides workforce insights you can use to guide your organization forward during this time of uncertainty and continued transformation.</p></div><div class="col-md-4"><div class="panel panel-default"><div class="panel-heading"><h3><strong>Latest Health Care Workforce Scan</strong></h3></div><div class="panel-body"><p><a class="btn btn-wide btn-primary" href="/aha-workforce-scan" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" data-view-context="top-level-view">See the Latest Edition</a></p></div></div></div></div><div class="row sp_Resource1"> .sp_Resource1 { padding: 25px 0 0px 0; } /* .sp_Resource1 h3{ margin:10px 0 0 0; color:#555; font-size:.7em; text-transform:uppercase; font-weight:400; letter-spacing:3px; } .sp_Resource1 h4{ color:#002855; line-height: 1.2em; font-size:30px; margin: 10px 0 15px 0 } */ .sp_Resource1 p, .sp_Resource1 ul li { font-size: 16px; } .sp_Resource1_holder { background-color: ; padding: 0; overflow: auto } .sp_Resource1 .sp_Resource1_holder img { padding-bottom: 15px; margin: auto; display: block } @media (max-width:768px) and (min-width:340px) { .sp_Resource1 .sp_Resource1_holder .col-xs-3 { width: 40%; } .sp_Resource1 .sp_Resource1_holder .col-xs-9 { width: 60%; } } @media (max-width:500px) and (min-width:361px) { .sp_Resource1 .sp_Resource1_holder.col-xs-3 { width: 100%; } .sp_Resource1 .sp_Resource1_holder .col-xs-9 { width: 100%; } } @media (max-width:360px) { .sp_Resource1 .sp_Resource1_holder .col-xs-3 { width: 100%; max-width: 150px; /* margin-left: calc(50% - 75px);*/ margin-right: } .sp_Resource1 .sp_Resource1_holder .col-xs-9 { width: 100%; padding: 0 25px } } @media (max-width:500px) { .sp_Resource1 .sp_Resource1_holder center .btn { width: 250px; right: calc(25% - 115px); } } /* .sp_Resource1 .btn { margin-top: 20px; }*/ <div class="col-md-12 sp_Resource1_holder"><div class="col-md-8"><div class="row"><div class="col-md-4"><a href="/system/files/media/file/2024/11/2025-Health-Care-Workforce-Scan-Presentation.pptx" target="_blank" title="2025 AHA Health Care Workforce Scan - Presentation"><img src="/sites/default/files/2024-11/2025-workforcescan-PPT-Cover-196x113.jpg" alt="AHA Health Care Workforce Scan" width="196" height="113"></a></div><div class="col-md-8"><h3 class="margin-top-0">2025 Health Care Workforce Scan Presentation</h3><p>This downloadable PowerPoint presentation highlights key talent management trends to consider in your workforce planning.</p><div class="spacer"><a class="btn btn-wide btn-primary" href="/system/files/media/file/2024/11/2025-Health-Care-Workforce-Scan-Presentation.pptx" target="_blank" title="2025 AHA Health Care Workforce Scan - Presentation">Download Presentation</a></div></div></div></div><div class="col-md-4"><img alt="Cover image of workforce scan" src="/sites/default/files/2023-11/2024-workforcescan-cover-thumbnail-247x320.jpg"></a> <a class="btn btn-primary" data-view-context="top-level-view" href="/system/files/media/file/2023/11/2024_AHA_Health_Care_Workforce_Scan.pdf" title="2024 Health Care Workforce Scan" target="_blank">Download the 2024 Scan</a> <a href="/system/files/media/file/2023/11/2024_AHA_Health_Care_Workforce_Scan.pptx" target="_blank" title="2024 AHA Health Care Workforce Scan - Presentation"><img src="/sites/default/files/2023-11/2024-workforcescan-196x113.jpg" alt="AHA Health Care Workforce Scan" width="196" height="113"></a> <p>PowerPoint presentation highlights key talent management trends to consider in your workforce planning.</p> <div class="spacer"><a class="btn btn-wide btn-primary" href="/system/files/media/file/2023/11/2024_AHA_Health_Care_Workforce_Scan.pptx" target="_blank" title="2024 AHA Health Care Workforce Scan - Presentation">Download 2024 Presentation</a></div> --> </div></div></div> Wed, 13 Nov 2024 07:00:00 -0600 Recruitment and Selection <div class="raw-html-embed"> </div> .bannerHero { background-image: /*linear-gradient(rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5), rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5)),*/ url("/sites/default/files/2024-11/2025-workforcescan-Banner-1170x500.jpg"); background-position: center; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; position: relative; height: 1000px; max-height:500px; max-width: 100%; margin: 0 auto; overflow:hidden; } .bannerHero .contentBottom { position: absolute; bottom: 0; background-image: linear-gradient(-180deg, rgba(46,46,46,0), rgba(46,46,46,1)); width: 100%; /* left + right + border */ padding: 15px 100px 50px 100px; /*! border: solid 2px green; */ color: #fff; } .bannerHero .contentBottom h1{ font-size:2.5em; } .bannerHero .contentBottom p{ font-size:2em; line-height: 1.2em } @media (max-width:568px){ .bannerHero { max-height:350px; } .bannerHero .contentBottom { padding: 15px 15px 15px 15px; } .bannerHero .contentBottom h1{ font-size:2em; } .bannerHero .contentBottom p{ font-size:1.5em; } } <div class="row"><div class="bannerHero"><div class="contentBottom"><h1>AHA Health Care Workforce Scan — Presentations (Members Only)</h1></div></div></div><div class="row spacer"><div class="col-md-12"> .field_lead p{ color: #63666A; font-weight: 300; line-height: 1.4; font-size: 21px; } <div class="col-md-7 field_lead"><p>View the Health Care Workforce Scan Presentation and archives that will help you better understand the latest forces and trends affecting health care human resources. Based on a review of reports, studies and other data sources from leading organizations and researchers, it provides workforce insights you can use to guide your organization forward during this time of uncertainty and continued transformation.</p></div><div class="col-md-5"><div class="panel panel-default"><div class="panel-heading"><h3>Latest Health Care Workforce Scan</h3></div><div class="panel-body"><p><a class="btn btn-wide btn-primary" href="/aha-workforce-scan" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" data-view-context="top-level-view">Latest Edition</a></p></div></div></div></div></div><div class="row"><div class="col-md-8 col-md-offset-2"><div class="col-md-12"><h2 class="text-align-center"><u>View the Latest Presentation</u></h2></div><div class="col-md-4"><a href="/presentation-resource/2024-11-13-2025-aha-health-care-workforce-scan-presentation" title="2024 AHA Health Care Workforce Scan - Presentation"><img src="/sites/default/files/2024-11/2025-workforcescan-PPT-Cover-196x113.jpg" alt="AHA Health Care Workforce Scan" width="196" height="113"></a></div><div class="col-md-8"><h3>2025 Health Care Workforce Scan Presentation</h3><p>This downloadable PowerPoint presentation highlights key talent management trends to consider in your workforce planning.</p><div class="spacer"><a class="btn btn-wide btn-primary" href="/presentation-resource/2024-11-13-2025-aha-health-care-workforce-scan-presentation" title="2024 AHA Health Care Workforce Scan - Presentation">Get the 2025 Presentation</a></div></div></div></div> Wed, 13 Nov 2024 07:00:00 -0600 Recruitment and Selection /aha-workforce-scan <div class="raw-html-embed"> </div> .bannerHero { background-image: /*linear-gradient(rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5), rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5)),*/ url("/sites/default/files/2024-11/2025-workforcescan-Banner-1170x500.jpg"); background-position: center; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; position: relative; height: 1000px; max-height:500px; max-width: 100%; margin: 0 auto; overflow:hidden; } .bannerHero .contentBottom { position: absolute; bottom: 0; background-image: linear-gradient(-180deg, rgba(46,46,46,0), rgba(46,46,46,1)); width: 100%; /* left + right + border */ padding: 15px 100px 50px 100px; /*! 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Solving near-term and long-term workforce challenges calls for us to develop fresh ways to nurture and support our current staff while attracting the workers we need to meet the demands of today and tomorrow.</p><p>For innovative steps to enhance the overall workforce experience to help you refresh, retain and recruit health care workers, look to the 2025 AHA Health Care Workforce Scan. Based on a review of the latest reports, studies and other data sources, it offers valuable insights into the workforce landscape and practical guidance from experts and your peers to help your organization navigate the future of the health care workforce. Real-world examples from a host of organizations, from Ochsner Medical Center to Texas Children’s Hospital to Chicago’s Northwestern Medicine, provide actionable ways to:</p><ul><li>Embrace technologically integrated care models and innovations.</li><li>Engage clinicians in technology strategies.</li><li>Boost access through partnerships, training and upskilling.</li><li>Rethink engagement to build a more flexible, engaged workforce.</li></ul><p>For a high-level, two-page overview of the state of the health care workforce, download this <a href="/system/files/media/file/2024/11/2025-Health-Care-Workforce-Scan-Executive-Summary.pdf" target="_blank" title="Download the Executive Summary">Executive Summary</a> of the 2025 AHA Health Care Workforce Scan.</p><p>Access <a href="/aha-workforce-scan/scan-presentations-members-only" target="_blank" title="AHA members-only presentations">AHA members-only presentations</a> to share key points from the AHA Health Care Workforce Scan with your colleagues or other audiences.</p></div></div><div class="col-md-1"> </div></div> .SponsorMarketoForm { background-color: ; 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MktoForms2.whenReady(function(form){ if(form.getId() == 4088 ) { form.onSuccess(function(values, followUpUrl) { form.getFormElem().hide(); document.getElementById("successAndErrorMessages").innerHTML="<div><p>Thank you.<\/p><br /><p><a class='btn btn-wide btn-primary' data-view-context='top-level-view' href='https:\/\/www.aha.org\/system\/files\/media\/file\/2024\/11\/2025-Health-Care-Workforce-Scan.pdf' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer nofollow'>Download 2025 Health Care Workforce Scan <\/a><\/center><\/div>"; return false; }); }; }); <div id="successAndErrorMessages"> </div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="row"> .CenterProgram { background-color: #f6f6f6; /*margin-bottom:25px;*/ } .CenterProgram .CpHeader{ padding-top:15px; } .CenterProgram .CpHeader h2 { color: #002855; line-height: 1.2em; font-size: 30px; margin: 10px 0 30px 0; text-align:center; } .CenterProgram .CpHeader h4 { margin: 25px 0 0 0; color: #555; font-size: .7em; text-transform: uppercase; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: 3px; text-align:center; } .CenterProgram .CpHeader p{ font-size:16px; text-align:center; } @media (min-width:768px){ .rowEqual_768 { display: -webkit-box; display: -webkit-flex; display: -ms-flexbox; display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; } .rowEqual_768>[class*='CenterProgramSection'] { -ms-flex: 1; /* IE 10 */ flex: auto; width: calc((100% / 2) - 20px) /*Adjust # for the number per row, will override the bootstrap - Also needed for Safari*/; } } .CenterProgramSection{ margin:20px 10px 0px 10px; transition: .7s; } .FilterInner { border: solid 2px #55555555; padding: 10px; background-color: rgba(85, 85, 85, 0.07); background-color: #fff /*#55555511*/; overflow: hidden; height: 100%; } .FilterInner h3{ margin: 0 0 15px 0; line-height: 1em; font-size:1.3em; font-size: 20.8px; } .FilterInner p{ font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.3em } .CenterProgramSection:hover { transform: scale(1.05); transition: .7s; } .CenterFilterWrapper h3{ color:#555; border-bottom: solid 2px #555 } .CenterFilterWrapper input[type=checkbox] + label{ font-weight: 500; margin: 0; color: #55555599 } .CenterFilterWrapper input[type=checkbox]:checked + label{ color: #555555; } .CenterProgramSection img{ margin-bottom:15px; } .CenterProgramSection ul { list-style: none; width:100%; /*padding-left:15px;*/ text-indent: -20px; /* key property */ /*margin-left: 20px;*/ /* key property */ } .CenterProgramSection ul li::before { content: " "; font-size: 1em; margin-right: 5px; display: inline-block; height: 12px; background-color: #002855; width: 12px; position: relative; top: 0px; } .CenterProgramSection ul li h4{ margin-top:0px; display: initial;; font-weight:300; } .CenterProgramSection ul li { margin-bottom:10px; } @media (min-width:768px){ .CenterProgramSection.CenterProgramSectionLast{ margin:15px 25% } } <div class="CenterProgram col-md-12"><div class="CpHeader"><h2>Key Drivers Transforming the Health Care Workforce</h2><p class="text-align-center">The 2025 Health Care Workforce Scan reveals six fundamental factors propelling core changes in the workforce.</p></div></div><div class="CenterProgram rowEqual_768 col-md-12"><div class="CenterProgramSection"><div class="FilterInner"><img src="/sites/default/files/2024-11/Section-01-banner-1170x250.jpg" alt="Stock image: Medical staff in a meeting" width="1170" height="250"><h3>Skyrocketing Costs Are Shrinking Budgets</h3><p>High interest rates, inflation, drug/supply costs and labor expenses have forced hospitals and staff to do more with less.</p> <li><h4><a href="xxxx">xxxxx</a></h4></li> </ul>--></div></div><div class="CenterProgramSection"><div class="FilterInner"><img src="/sites/default/files/2024-11/Section-02-banner-1170x250.jpg" alt="Stock image: Medical staff helping a person in a wheelchair" width="1170" height="250"><h3>An Aging Population Requires New Care Solutions</h3><p>America’s aging population will require new care models and incentives for both formal and informal caregivers.</p> <li><h4><a href="xxxx">xxxxx</a></h4></li> </ul>--></div></div><div class="CenterProgramSection"><div class="FilterInner"><img src="/sites/default/files/2024-11/Section-03-banner-1170x250.jpg" alt="Stock image: Medical staff greeting a person at their house" width="1170" height="250"><h3>Care Continues to Migrate Outside Hospital Walls</h3><p>Home-based care and outpatient services are projected to grow.</p> <li><h4><a href="xxxx">xxxxx</a></h4></li> </ul>--></div></div><div class="CenterProgramSection"><div class="FilterInner"><img src="/sites/default/files/2024-11/Section-04-banner-1170x250.jpg" alt="Stock image: Medical staff talking in a small group" width="1170" height="250"><h3>Payer Market Dominance Raises Questions</h3><p>Some commercial health insurance companies have dramatically expanded their market share and scope, and are increasingly involved in Medicare Advantage plans.</p> <li><h4><a href="xxxx">xxxxx</a></h4></li> </ul>--></div></div><div class="CenterProgramSection"><div class="FilterInner"><img src="/sites/default/files/2024-11/Section-05-banner-1170x250.jpg" alt="Stock image: Medical staff looking over medical data and scans" width="1170" height="250"><h3>Large Technology Solutions Providers Advance AI Adoption</h3><p>Tech giants are playing a more direct role in care delivery and creating solutions that can drive widespread AI adoption.</p> <li><h4><a href="xxxx">xxxxx</a></h4></li> </ul>--></div></div><div class="CenterProgramSection "><div class="FilterInner"><img src="/sites/default/files/2024-11/Section-06-banner-1170x250.jpg" alt="Stock image: Medical staff in a lab" width="1170" height="250"><h3>Health Care’s AI Sprint Gets an Ethics Safety Net</h3><p>Industry groups have been created to establish ethical standards for AI’s implementation to help address bias, accuracy and data privacy.</p> <li><h4><a href="xxxx">xxxxx</a></h4></li> </ul>--></div></div></div></div> Wed, 13 Nov 2024 07:00:00 -0600 Recruitment and Selection /aha-center-health-innovation-market-scan/2024-09-24-how-strengthen-nurse-retention-strategy <div class="raw-html-embed"> </div><div> /* Banner_Title_Overlay_Bar */ .Banner_Title_Overlay_Bar { position: relative; display: block; overflow: hidden; max-width: 1170px; margin: 0px auto 25px auto; } .Banner_Title_Overlay_Bar h1 { position: absolute; bottom: 40px; color: #003087; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, .8); width: 100%; padding: 20px 40px; font-size: 3em; box-shadow: 0 3px 8px -5px rgba(0, 0, 0, .6); } @media (max-width:991px) { .Banner_Title_Overlay_Bar h1 { bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; font-size: 2.5em; } } @media (max-width:767px) { .Banner_Title_Overlay_Bar h1 { font-size: 2em; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; padding: 10px 20px; } } @media (max-width:530px) { .Banner_Title_Overlay_Bar h1 { position: relative; background-color: #63666A22; } } /* Banner_Title_Overlay_Bar // */ <header class="Banner_Title_Overlay_Bar"><img src="/sites/default/files/2024-01/Trailblazers_Amazon_banner_1170x250.png" alt="Cover of How to Strengthen Your Nurse Retention Strategy" width="1168" height="250"><div><h1>How to Strengthen Your Nurse Retention Strategy</h1></div></header></div> h2{ margin-top: 0px; } p.center_Intro { color: #002855; line-height: 1.2em; font-size: 30px; margin: 10px 0 25px 0; font-weight: 700; font-size: 2em; } p.center_Lead { color: #63666A; font-weight: 300; line-height: 1.4; font-size: 21px; } <div class="row"><div class="col-sm-8"><h2>Focus on continuous monitoring and improvement to retain clinicians</h2><p>The COVID-19 pandemic tested the performance of every aspect of the health care system in the U.S. like no event in recent memory. Hospital and health system nursing retention efforts were no exception.</p><p>Like some aspects of the health care system whose performance was challenged by the unprecedented public health emergency and accompanying stress level it put clinicians under, nurse retention initiatives suffered. Some nurses retired early, others left the profession or quit without having another job. Others streamed out the door for higher-paying travel gigs or left hospitals and health systems for positions in other health care settings.</p><p>These trends and other data point to the increasing need for health care leaders to develop effective nurse retention strategies, even as some data show more nurses are returning to the field.</p><div class="row"><div class="col-sm-12"><p><strong>Sponsored by:</strong><a href="https://www.relias.com/" target="_blank" title="Relias"><strong><img src="/sites/default/files/2023-05/Logo_Relias_834x313.jpg" alt="Relias logo" width="834" height="313"></strong></a></p><p> </p></div><p> </p></div><p> </p></div><p> </p><div class="col-sm-4"><p> </p><a href="https://www.relias.com/" target="_blank" title="Relias"><img src="/sites/default/files/2024-01/Trailblazers_logo-924x265.png" alt="TrailBlazers logo" width="100%" height="100%"></a><p><br><a href="#DownloadNow" title="How to Strengthen Your Nurse Retention Strategy | Focus on continuous monitoring and improvement to retain clinicians"><img src="/sites/default/files/2024-09/Traiblazers_Relias_cover_revise_777x600.png" alt="Cover, How to Improve Nurse Retention and Quality | Focus on continuous improvement to build out your nurse retention program" width="100%" height="100%"> </a><br><a class="btn btn-primary" href="#DownloadNow" title="Download, How to Strengthen Your Nurse Retention Strategy | Focus on continuous monitoring and improvement to retain clinicians">Download</a></p></div></div> .y-hr3 div:nth-child(2) { border-top: solid 15px #67c1c3; margin: 50px 0px; height: 0px; <div class="row y-hr3"><div class="col-md-3"> </div><div class="col-md-6"> </div><div class="col-md-3"> </div></div><div class="row"><div class="col-sm-4"><img src="/sites/default/files/2024-09/Trailblazers_Relias_Intro_700x917.png" alt="Medical staff" width="100%" height="100%"></div><div class="col-sm-8"><h2>Taking a Continuous Improvement Approach to Nurse Retention</h2><p>Many hospitals and health systems are repurposing lessons learned from the pandemic as building blocks of their reimagined nursing retention strategies. They’re also adopting a continuous improvement approach to make programs nimble and more responsive to the changing needs of their nursing workforce. The other benefits of this strategy are more effective and safer care for patients and better financial performance for their organizations.</p><p><a href="#DownloadNow" title="Download, How to Strengthen Your Nurse Retention Strategy | Focus on continuous monitoring and improvement to retain clinicians"><strong>READ MORE.</strong></a></p></div></div><div class="row y-hr3"><div class="col-md-3"> </div><div class="col-md-6"> </div><div class="col-md-3"> </div></div><div class="row"><div class="col-sm-4"><img src="/sites/default/files/2024-09/Trailblazers_Relias_OSFHealthcare_700x532.png" alt="Exterior of OSF Healthcare" width="700" height="532"></div><div class="col-sm-8"><h2>Case Study: OSF Healthcare</h2><h3>Corporate University Streamlined Nurse Onboarding and Continuing Education</h3><p>The educational objectives of the OSF corporate university range from supporting practice changes to optimizing policies and procedures. Programs include nursing orientation, technical orientation, critical care courses, workplace violence and global training programs.</p><p><a href="#DownloadNow" title="Download, How to Strengthen Your Nurse Retention Strategy | Focus on continuous monitoring and improvement to retain clinicians"><strong>READ MORE.</strong></a></p></div></div><div class="row y-hr3"><div class="col-md-3"> </div><div class="col-md-6"> </div><div class="col-md-3"> </div></div><div class="row"><div class="col-sm-4"><img src="/sites/default/files/2024-09/Trailblazers_Relias_PAMHealth_700x532.png" alt="Exterior of PAM Health" width="700" height="532"></div><div class="col-sm-8"><h2>Case Study: PAM Health</h2><h3>Explosive Growth Required A New Way of Getting All Nurses on the Same Page</h3><p>The health system partnered with Relias to build an automated platform with a specific learner portal for clinicians, including nurses. Through the portal, nurses easily can access online onboarding, orientation, and training and education modules. Nurses also can search the platform for their specific state licensing or continuing education requirements and find training and education modules tailored to meet those specific requirements.</p><p><a href="#DownloadNow" title="Download, How to Strengthen Your Nurse Retention Strategy | Focus on continuous monitoring and improvement to retain clinicians"><strong>READ MORE.</strong></a></p></div></div><div> .SponsorMarketoForm { background-color: ; padding:5px 25px; border: solid 2px #307FE2; margin:50px 15px 0px !important; display:inline-block; } .SponsorMarketoForm h3{ margin:10x 0 0 0 ; color:#eaaa00; font-size:.7em; text-transform:uppercase; font-weight:400; letter-spacing:3px; max-width:200px; /* Custom for the copy length */ background-color:#fff; padding: 5px 15px; position:relative; top:-35px; height: 0px; } .SponsorMarketoForm h2{ color: #002855; } .SponsorMarketoForm .SponsorMarketoFormHolder{ background-color: ; padding:15px; display: inline-block; margin-bottom:25px; } .SponsorMarketoFormHolder form{ margin: auto; } @media (max-width:640px){ .SponsorMarketoForm { padding:5px 0px; } .SponsorMarketoForm .SponsorMarketoFormHolder{ padding:15px 0px; } } /* Marketo Over-ride */ .mktoForm .mktoFormRow:nth-child(3){ float: left; } /*Center the last row .mktoForm .mktoFormRow:nth-child(4){ margin-left:15%; } */ .mktoForm label{ font-size: 0px; width: 0px !important; } .mktoForm input{ height: 30px } .mktoForm .mktoButtonRow{ float: left; } .mktoForm .mktoButtonWrap { margin-left:20px !important; } .mktoForm .mktoButton { background-color: #307FE2 !important; border: 1px solid #307FE2 !important; color: #fff !important; padding: 0.4em 1em; font-size: 1em; background-image: none !important; min-width: 190px; margin: 0 15px; border-radius: 4px; padding: 10px 20px; transition: all .25s ease-in-out; text-shadow: none; white-space: normal; height: 30px; font-weight: 700 } .mktoForm .mktoButton:hover{ background-color: #002855 !important; border: 1px solid #002855 !important; color: #fff !important; } .mktoForm .mktoClear { clear: none; } <div class="row spacer" id="DownloadNow"><div><div class="col-md-1"> </div><div class="col-md-10"><div class="cta--image-container full_width SponsorMarketoForm"><h3>Download Now</h3><div class="col-sm-9"><h2>How to Strengthen Your Nurse Retention Strategy</h2><div class="SponsorMarketoFormHolder">   MktoForms2.loadForm("//sponsors.aha.org", "710-ZLL-651", 3641); MktoForms2.whenReady(function(form) { if (form.getId() == 3641) { form.onSuccess(function(values, followUpUrl) { form.getFormElem().hide(); document.getElementById("successAndErrorMessages").innerHTML = "<div><p>Thank you for downloading the latest AHA Trailblazers.<\/p><a class='btn btn-wide btn-primary' data-view-context='top-level-view' href='https:\/\/www.aha.org\/system\/files\/media\/file\/2024\/09\/Trailblazers_Relias.pdf' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer nofollow'>Download the Report<\/a><\/center><\/div>"; return false; }); }; }); <div id="successAndErrorMessages"> </div></div></div><div class="col-sm-3"><img src="/sites/default/files/2024-09/Traiblazers_Relias_cover_revise_777x600.png" alt="Cover of How to Strengthen Your Nurse Retention Strategy" width="600" height="777"></div></div></div><div class="col-md-1"> </div></div></div></div> Mon, 23 Sep 2024 12:00:00 -0500 Recruitment and Selection /news/headline/2024-01-16-nurse-leaders-identify-top-challenges-effective-solutions <p>The top three challenges facing nurse leaders are staff recruitment and retention, financial resource availability and workplace violence, according to AONL Foundation’s 2024 Longitudinal Nurse Leadership Insight Study. While still an obstacle, the state of staff emotional health and well-being is at its best since July 2020. The challenge of traveling nurses and contingent workforce also has improved substantially since the summer of 2022. The five-part study examines changes in health care from the perspective of nurse leaders. The latest iteration, based on responses from nearly 2,500 nurse leaders, also includes data on nurse leader satisfaction and effective solutions to combat the top challenges. <a href="https://www.aonl.org/resources/nursing-leadership-survey"><strong>LEARN MORE</strong></a></p> Tue, 16 Jan 2024 16:04:00 -0600 Recruitment and Selection /aha-center-health-innovation-market-scan/2023-12-19-4-ways-build-your-talent-pipeline <div class="container"><div class="row"><div class="col-md-8"><p><img src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/4-Ways-to-Build-Your-Talent-Pipeline.png" data-entity-uuid="fc5b7259-ad24-4e76-9447-1fb317123ac0" data-entity-type="file" alt="4 Ways to Build Your Talent Pipeline. The final pipe in a Talent pipeline is craned into place." width="100%" height="381"></p><p>Clinical and nonclinical staffing remains a top concern for health care leaders. To grow and retain their workforce, hospitals and health systems need to pursue a multipronged approach, notes the AHA’s recently released <a href="/aha-workforce-scan">2024 Health Care Workforce Scan</a>.</p><p><strong>This should encompass:</strong></p><ul><li>Recruiting innovatively for clinical and nonclinical positions.</li><li>Improving training and supporting practice readiness.</li><li>Expanding career pathways.</li><li>Building workforce diversity.</li></ul><h2><span>4 Innovative Ways to Strengthen the Talent Pipeline</span></h2><p>Here are some of the innovative ways AHA members are executing a broad spectrum of strategies.</p><h3><span>1</span> <span>|</span> Partner Productively</h3><p>Baltimore County, University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center (UMSJMC) and Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) have partnered to connect residents in historically underserved communities with high-demand nursing positions through customized educational programming and community wraparound support.</p><p>The Public Health Pathways Program pilot, launched this past summer, provides 30 scholarships that cover the cost of tuition and educational fees for the CCBC Certified Nursing Assistants program. Participants also receive a $1,000 monthly stipend, which they can use to supplement wages, support transportation or housing needs, pay for child care or overcome other work-related barriers.</p><p>Once students graduate from the certified nursing assistant program, UMSJMC will offer guaranteed employment with full benefits so they can continue their education in a licensed practical nursing program toward becoming an LPN. This segment includes four months of prerequisites and 16 months of LPN education. In addition, CCBC and UMSJMC will provide mentorship, tutoring and support for all participants.</p><h3><span>2</span> <span>|</span> Reconfigure Clinical Training</h3><p>A shortage of nurse preceptors is plaguing hospitals, exacerbating the challenge of onboarding new nurses. Investing in nursing educational leadership roles can supplement nursing school faculty along with strengthening the preceptor ranks. For example, Novant Health in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, has implemented a clinical teaching associate program that allows its nurses to serve as adjunct faculty for colleges seeking to expand clinical groups or class sizes.</p><p>The University of Maryland Medical System’s (UMMS) new Academy of Clinical Essentials (ACE) initiative moves even further out of the box. Piloted in April 2022, the academic practice partnership model pairs four nursing students with a UMMS-funded clinical nurse for a weekly 12-hour shift at the bedside. ACE provides a realistic clinical experience, allowing them to be immersed in all aspects of care and be accountable for patients. The program includes students from five schools in 50 cohorts across the system’s 11 hospitals.</p><p>ACE not only supports a robust recruitment pipeline, and student-to-qualified nurse pathway, it also bolsters the nurse educator ranks by offering registered nurses the best of both worlds. They can serve as clinical instructors while continuing to practice in the hospital, earning a premium when they handle ACE shifts.</p><h3><span>3</span> <span>|</span> Go Mobile</h3><p>Old Dominion University’s School of Nursing believes it makes sense to tackle two challenges with a single entrepreneurial solution. In rural communities like theirs (Southampton County, Virginia), high unemployment and poverty levels, transportation challenges and limited health care access create health disparities. This challenge is compounded by a shortage of health care preceptors, which makes it difficult for aspiring nurses to gain necessary clinical rotation experience.</p><p>Old Dominion customized a van to create a mobile health clinic, providing an opportunity for advanced practice students to work with interprofessional faculty nurse practitioner teams to bring care directly to residents. The students and faculty provide mental health, physical therapy, athletic training, dental hygiene, speech and human services. They also can draw blood and conduct testing, offer women’s health care and incorporate telehealth to connect with specialists, and monitor patients with chronic conditions.</p><p>In addition to providing high-quality medical care and building their own preceptor infrastructure, Old Dominion hopes the mobile unit experience will inspire nursing students to stay in the community to practice.</p><h3><span>4</span> <span>|</span> Purposefully Engage Teens</h3><p>Grady Health in Atlanta, the country’s fifth largest public hospital, received so many applicants for its new Teen Experience and Leadership Program that it had to turn hundreds away. The 236 high school students selected for the inaugural program this summer had the opportunity to shadow professionals in the hospital in four-hour shifts. Shifts were offered throughout the day, seven days a week, to accommodate a variety of student schedules.</p><p>Program participants — who came from a wide range of public, private and charter schools, as well as homeschooling families across metro Atlanta — could choose to rotate through units ranging from clinical to human resources, finance, legal compliance and other administrative departments. Staff were excited to have people to teach and expose to health care.</p><p>The program surpassed the organization’s expectations in several ways. Students not only were given a hands-on look at multiple health care career opportunities, but they also cultivated compassion for patients and deepened their understanding of Grady’s role in caring for community members. They often built friendships with peers different from themselves, and benefited from staff mentors willing to take them under their wings and provide life, school and career advice.</p><p><a href="/aha-workforce-scan"><strong>Download the 2024 Health Care Workforce Scan »</strong></a></p></div><div class="col-md-4"><p><a href="/center" title="Visit the AHA Center for Health Innovation landing page."><img src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/logo-aha-innovation-center-color-sm.jpg" data-entity-uuid="7ade6b12-de98-4d0b-965f-a7c99d9463c5" alt="AHA Center for Health Innovation logo" data-entity- type="file" class="align-center"></a></p><p><a href="/center/form/innovation-subscription"><img src="/sites/default/files/2019-04/Market_Scan_Call_Out_360x300.png" data-entity-uuid data-entity-type alt></a></p></div></div></div>.field_featured_image { position: absolute; overflow: hidden; clip: rect(0 0 0 0); height: 1px; width: 1px; margin: -1px; padding: 0; border: 0; } .featured-image{ position: absolute; overflow: hidden; clip: rect(0 0 0 0); height: 1px; width: 1px; margin: -1px; padding: 0; border: 0; } Tue, 19 Dec 2023 06:15:00 -0600 Recruitment and Selection <div class="raw-html-embed"> </div> .container > div > div.col-md-8 { width:100% } <div class="row"><div class="col-md-8"><p>The <strong>2024 Health Care Workforce Scan</strong> will help you better understand the latest forces and trends affecting health care human resources. Based on a review of reports, studies and other data sources from leading organizations and researchers, it provides workforce insights you can use to guide your organization forward during this time of uncertainty and continued transformation.</p></div><div class="col-md-4"><div class="panel panel-default"><div class="panel-heading"><h3><strong>Latest Health Care Workforce Scan</strong></h3></div><div class="panel-body"><p><a class="btn btn-wide btn-primary" href="/aha-workforce-scan" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" data-view-context="top-level-view">See the Latest Edition</a></p></div></div></div></div><div class="row sp_Resource1"> .sp_Resource1 { padding: 25px 0 0px 0; } /* .sp_Resource1 h3{ margin:10px 0 0 0; color:#555; font-size:.7em; text-transform:uppercase; font-weight:400; letter-spacing:3px; } .sp_Resource1 h4{ color:#002855; line-height: 1.2em; font-size:30px; margin: 10px 0 15px 0 } */ .sp_Resource1 p, .sp_Resource1 ul li { font-size: 16px; } .sp_Resource1_holder { background-color: ; padding: 0; overflow: auto } .sp_Resource1 .sp_Resource1_holder img { padding-bottom: 15px; margin: auto; display: block } @media (max-width:768px) and (min-width:340px) { .sp_Resource1 .sp_Resource1_holder .col-xs-3 { width: 40%; } .sp_Resource1 .sp_Resource1_holder .col-xs-9 { width: 60%; } } @media (max-width:500px) and (min-width:361px) { .sp_Resource1 .sp_Resource1_holder.col-xs-3 { width: 100%; } .sp_Resource1 .sp_Resource1_holder .col-xs-9 { width: 100%; } } @media (max-width:360px) { .sp_Resource1 .sp_Resource1_holder .col-xs-3 { width: 100%; max-width: 150px; /* margin-left: calc(50% - 75px);*/ margin-right: } .sp_Resource1 .sp_Resource1_holder .col-xs-9 { width: 100%; padding: 0 25px } } @media (max-width:500px) { .sp_Resource1 .sp_Resource1_holder center .btn { width: 250px; right: calc(25% - 115px); } } /* .sp_Resource1 .btn { margin-top: 20px; }*/ <div class="col-md-12 sp_Resource1_holder"><div class="col-md-8"><h2>Guide to Developing New Ways to Retain, Attract and Support Workers</h2><p>Health care is about people taking care of people, and that’s difficult to achieve without a strong and healthy workforce. That’s why we must address emerging and continuing workforce issues, and develop and implement sustainable solutions for improvement.</p><p>For insights and practical recommendations to help you take innovative steps to support, retain and recruit staff, look to the <a href="/system/files/media/file/2023/11/2024_AHA_Health_Care_Workforce_Scan-Summary.pdf" target="_blank" title="2024 AHA Health Care Workforce Scan - Executive Summary">2024 AHA Health Care Workforce Scan</a>. Drawn from the most authoritative reports and filled with real-world hospital case studies offering tried-and-proven approaches, it provides actionable ways to:</p><ul><li>Provide high-quality care with a changing clinical workforce.</li><li>Build a sustainable and adaptable talent pipeline.</li><li>Support well-being, satisfaction and safety.</li></ul><p>For a high-level, two-page overview of the state of the health care workforce, download this <a href="/system/files/media/file/2023/11/2024_AHA_Health_Care_Workforce_Scan-Summary.pdf" target="_blank" title="2024 AHA Health Care Workforce Scan - Executive Summary">Executive Summary</a> of the 2024 AHA Health Care Workforce Scan.</p><p>Download this <a href="/system/files/media/file/2023/11/2024_AHA_Health_Care_Workforce_Scan.pptx" title="2024 AHA Health Care Workforce Scan - Presentation">AHA members-only presentation</a> to share key points from the 2024 AHA Health Care Workforce Scan with your colleagues or other audiences.</p></div><div class="col-md-4"><a href="#ahaLeadershipScan"><img src="/sites/default/files/2023-11/2024-workforcescan-cover-thumbnail-247x320.jpg" alt="Cover image of workforce scan" width="247" height="320"></a><p><a class="btn btn-primary" href="/system/files/media/file/2023/11/2024_AHA_Health_Care_Workforce_Scan.pdf" target="_blank" title="2024 Health Care Workforce Scan" data-view-context="top-level-view">Download the 2024 Scan</a></p><a href="/system/files/media/file/2023/11/2024_AHA_Health_Care_Workforce_Scan.pptx" target="_blank" title="2024 AHA Health Care Workforce Scan - Presentation"><img src="/sites/default/files/2023-11/2024-workforcescan-196x113.jpg" alt="AHA Health Care Workforce Scan" width="196" height="113"></a><p>PowerPoint presentation highlights key talent management trends to consider in your workforce planning.</p><div class="spacer"><a class="btn btn-wide btn-primary" href="/system/files/media/file/2023/11/2024_AHA_Health_Care_Workforce_Scan.pptx" target="_blank" title="2024 AHA Health Care Workforce Scan - Presentation">Download 2024 Presentation</a></div></div></div></div> Tue, 14 Nov 2023 11:55:32 -0600 Recruitment and Selection /aha-center-health-innovation-market-scan/2023-08-18-buzz-2023-aha-leadership-summit <div class="container"> <div class="row"> <div class="col-md-8"> <h2><span>5 insights from the AHA Leadership Summit</span></h2> p.field_lead { color: #63666A; font-weight: 300; line-height: 1.4; font-size: 21px; } <p class="field_lead">How to plan, execute and accelerate redesigned health care dominated discussions at the recent AHA Leadership Summit in Seattle, as hospital and health system leaders, retail care providers, innovators and entrepreneurs came together to assess what’s next for the field. AHA Market Scan’s new <a href="/system/files/media/file/2023/08/2023_The_Buzz_Summit_Recap.pdf" title="THE BUZZ | Takeaways from the 2023 AHA Leadership Summit" target="_blank">Buzz report</a> provides a deep-dive analysis on each of the five trend areas.</p> <a class="btn btn-primary" href="/system/files/media/file/2023/08/2023_The_Buzz_Summit_Recap.pdf" target="_blank" title="2023 The Buzz Summit Recap"> <strong>Download the Report</strong> </a> /* y-hr3 */ .y-hr3{ clear: both; } .y-hr3 div:nth-child(2) { border-top: solid 2px lightgrey; margin: 50px 0px; height: 0px } /* y-hr3 // */ <div class="row y-hr3"> <div class="col-md-3"> </div> <div class="col-md-6"> </div> <div class="col-md-3"> </div> </div> <h3><span>Section 1</span> <span>|</span> It’s time to build the future-ready workforce </h3> <p>Health care leaders face a daunting challenge in restructuring the workforce to address the growing number of health care workers and Americans in general nearing retirement age. Learn what experts from Accenture and futurist Amy Webb had to say about where health care leaders should concentrate to build the future-ready workforce and why provider organizations may need to start stimulating young students to consider health care careers.</p> <h3><span>Section 2</span> <span>|</span> Create seamless consumer-centric care</h3> <p>Health care transformers like Amazon, Optum and Dollar General emphasized their interest in partnering with hospitals and health systems to drive rapid progress in making high-quality health care more convenient and affordable. Learn what it takes to transform care delivery to provide consumers with a retail-level of convenience when accessing care, booking appointments and obtaining their health data.</p> <h3><span>Section 3</span> <span>|</span> Design a road map for health equity </h3> <p>Health care transformers like Amazon, Optum and Dollar General emphasized their interest in partnering with hospitals and health systems to drive rapid progress in making high-quality health care more convenient and affordable. Learn what it takes to transform care delivery to provide consumers with a retail-level of convenience when accessing care, booking appointments and obtaining their health data.</p> <h3><span>Section 4</span> <span>|</span> What it takes to achieve future-forward transformation</h3> <p>What can hospitals and health systems learn from retail care providers? What role should innovation play in driving organizational culture? How can providers deepen their relationships with patients to maintain trust and loyalty? Leaders from ChristianaCare, Ardent Health Services, Mayo Clinic and Sutter Health share their insights in the Buzz report.</p> <h3><span>Section 5</span> <span>|</span> Focus on financial fundamentals to speed recovery </h3> <p>What can hospitals and health systems learn from retail care providers? What role should innovation play in driving organizational culture? How can providers deepen their relationships with patients to maintain trust and loyalty? Leaders from ChristianaCare, Ardent Health Services, Mayo Clinic and Sutter Health share their insights in the Buzz report.</p> <div class="container"> <div class="row y-sections"> <h2>Related Content</h2> <div class="col-md-4"> <div class="y-padding"> <a href="/aha-center-health-innovation-market-scan/2023-08-08-general-catalysts-4-priorities-health-care"><img alt="Stylized person with a scope" src="/sites/default/files/2023-08/General-Catalysts.png"></a> <h3><a href="/aha-center-health-innovation-market-scan/2023-08-08-general-catalysts-4-priorities-health-care">General Catalyst’s 4 priorities for health care </a></h3> <p>As one of the nation’s largest venture capital firms, General Catalyst has sharpened its focus on health care. 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In rural Iowa, some care providers have found successful new pathways to recruit, train and retain behavioral health specialists.</p> <hr /> <p></p> <div><a href="https://soundcloud.com/advancinghealth" target="_blank" title="Advancing Health">Advancing Health</a> · <a href="https://soundcloud.com/advancinghealth/230046-final-improving-behavioral-health-workforce-and-services-in-a-rural-state-mixdown" target="_blank" title="Recruiting the Next Generation of Behavioral Health Professionals">Recruiting the Next Generation of Behavioral Health Professionals</a></div> <p> </p> <details class="transcript"><summary> <h2 title="Click here to open/close the transcript."><span>View Transcript</span><br />  </h2> </summary> <p>00;00;01;02 - 00;00;28;06<br /> Tom Haederle<br /> The shortage of health care workers in America is not news, but the shortage of behavioral health care professionals is especially acute. And that's even truer in rural areas. As one expert says, If you thought it was bad before the pandemic, we've got a new definition of dire over the past two and a half years. But the scarcity of qualified professionals hasn't stopped some rural care providers from recruiting, training and retaining behavioral health specialists with some success.</p> <p>00;00;32;13 - 00;00;59;01<br /> Tom Haederle<br /> Welcome to Community Cornerstones: Conversations with Rural Hospitals in America. A new series from the ���������� Association. I'm Tom Haederle with AHA Communications. The state of Iowa didn't have a reputation as a magnet for psychiatrists or other mental health professionals just starting out on their careers. But in recent years, Iowa has chosen to fund the expansion of psychiatric residency programs, now numbering about 20 across the state.</p> <p>00;00;59;11 - 00;01;11;17<br /> Tom Haederle<br /> Iowa is investing in the training and retention of future psychiatrists who want to be change agents and who are passionate about working with underserved populations. Hear how it's all working out in this podcast discussion.</p> <p>00;01;12;12 - 00;01;34;21<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> Hi, this is Rebecca Chickey, senior director of behavioral health services for the ���������� Association. And it's my honor today to be joined by Dr. Jodi Tate, who is the clinical professor, as well as vice chair for education and director of the Intellectual Disabilities and Mental Illness Program at the University of Iowa Health Care in Iowa City, Iowa.</p> <p>00;01;35;10 - 00;02;06;11<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> Jodi, thank you for being here with us today. I had the honor, since I'm at the AHA Health Care Rural Leadership Conference, being on a work session where you spoke about improving behavioral health workforce and services in a rural state. I have to tell you, the room was packed because if we thought the shortage of behavioral health workers prior to COVID was dire, we got a new definition of dire in the last two and a half years.</p> <p>00;02;06;27 - 00;02;24;05<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> So for the benefit of the listeners and those who aren't here at the Rural Leadership Conference, could you describe for me, can you tell me about how you have expanded the psychiatric residency programs, particularly in the rural parts of Iowa?</p> <p>00;02;24;09 - 00;03;01;08<br /> Jodi Tate<br /> Well, thank you very much for having me. And we are very lucky in the state of Iowa that our government has been extremely supportive in expanding our residency program into rural parts of the state. And in 2019, our governor allocated funds to expand our residency program. And Dr. Shay Jorgensen, who was a resident when this was all going down, has taken on the lead and has developed a rural psychiatry track from our in our residency program.</p> <p>00;03;01;08 - 00;03;32;24<br /> Jodi Tate<br /> And she graduated from the University of Iowa and moved to Mason City. She grew up in rural Iowa, and her dream was to return to rural Iowa. But she wanted to have a connection with academic medicine and expand psychiatry throughout the state. So she has been a trailblazer in making that happen. And this is the third year where she has two residents per year in the psychiatry residency program.</p> <p>00;03;33;14 - 00;04;04;02<br /> Jodi Tate<br /> And so that's going amazingly well. She is also single handedly developing substance use treatments and treatments in rural Iowa with her connections. And so we she's gotten that off the ground. And then our state last year provided more funding to expand our residency training program even further, funding for up to 12 additional residents per year, which is huge.</p> <p>00;04;04;03 - 00;04;31;17<br /> Jodi Tate<br /> Right now we have nine per year, phenomenal. And so I was in a different position when this funding came down and I was very excited about the possibilities of changing psychiatry across the state of Iowa and improving services to underserved populations wherever they are. And I went to medical school in a rural state and spent time in rural areas and had that experience as well.</p> <p>00;04;31;18 - 00;05;02;19<br /> Jodi Tate<br /> So I'm trying to figure out how to expand our residency program even further, which is challenging because part of the state appropriation bill that funds this new addition mandates that the residents spend time in locations that are in rural Iowa. It's a mandate. And many of these specific locations where they mandate that we have to be ... there isn't the capacity, there aren't physicians or there's not the capacity of the current physicians to have residents.</p> <p>00;05;02;22 - 00;05;23;23<br /> Jodi Tate<br /> So they have the capacity to teach the residents. So we wouldn't be able to receive ACGME accreditation to expand our residency training program. So we're having to be really creative about how we go about doing that. And the thing that I have learned through this process in meeting with folks at these institutions is everyone is passionate about this.</p> <p>00;05;23;23 - 00;06;04;01<br /> Jodi Tate<br /> Everybody wants to improve psychiatric care, but there's just a limited resource. So what we've decided to do is to develop a public psychiatry fellowship program in Iowa, and there are about 20 public psychiatry fellowship programs across the state, and most of these are in urban areas. So not sure how it's going to go in a rural area, but I'm very hopeful that it will be successful. The way that the Public Psychiatry Fellowship works in with expanding the residency is that these fellows will have graduated residency program already so they can practice independently and they can supervise residents.</p> <p>00;06;04;18 - 00;06;55;23<br /> Jodi Tate<br /> The fellowship gives them extra training and exposure to learning more about our health care system, learning more about being a change agent, about social determinants of health and our hope is that we recruit psychiatrists to do this fellowship that are really passionate about underserved populations and who will be future change agents in improving our health care system. And these fellows would spend time at these sites that are mandated for our residents to be, and then we'd slowly create a culture of education and excitement in these rural areas, which in turn would allow us to have residents there, which hopefully would in turn, the residents would stay there and they would be physicians there in rural</p> <p>00;06;55;23 - 00;07;01;14<br /> Jodi Tate<br /> Iowa. So that was a very long answer to your question, but it is a long process.</p> <p>00;07;02;20 - 00;07;14;01<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> No, that was excellent. But for perhaps some of our non-health care listeners, could you describe or articulate what ACT is as well as a ACGME.</p> <p>00;07;14;09 - 00;07;41;27<br /> Jodi Tate<br /> ACT: Assertive Community Treatment. Dr. Williams talked about that at our talk earlier today. So it is a treatment for individuals with chronic severe mental illness that live in the community, that have multiple hospitalizations, interactions with the legal system, lots of complications. So essentially, it's a it's an inpatient team that goes out in the community and takes care of patients in the community.</p> <p>00;07;41;27 - 00;07;47;18<br /> Jodi Tate<br /> Evidence based treatment that shows to improve outcomes for people with serious mental illness, including schizophrenia.</p> <p>00;07;47;27 - 00;07;59;25<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> And I think it's also been proven to reduce the number of readmissions and the number of visits to emergency rooms and all of that, as well as be able to meet the patient where they are in their own home.</p> <p>00;08;00;04 - 00;08;27;19<br /> Jodi Tate<br /> We do not need any more evidence that ACT works. It works. You know, the challenges in rural areas. And Dr. Williams talked eloquently about that. And Dr. Jorgensen actually has started an ACT program in rural Iowa. And she has you know, she's running the rural track that we talked about earlier, expanding the psych residency program. So she's exposing residents, psych residents to the ACT program.</p> <p>00;08;27;20 - 00;08;48;00<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> Yeah. Gotcha. Yeah. Can you go back and and tell me a little bit about the psych residency sort of structure? There's four years to the program, is that correct? I'm hoping I'm going to get this right for ACGME: the American College of Graduate Medical Education, correct? Right. Yeah. So before you can even go on this journey, you have to go through a process where you get their blessing.</p> <p>00;08;48;00 - 00;09;09;24<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> And it's not a one stop process, is it? So, you know, just at a high level, you don't have to give us each step. But what did you have to go through in order to be able to move this program forward? And then how is it structured? Because if you are in rural areas, you know, how are they connecting back to, you know, sort of the mega metro centers, you know?</p> <p>00;09;10;05 - 00;09;11;28<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> So how is that structured? Two questions.</p> <p>00;09;12;09 - 00;09;38;14<br /> Jodi Tate<br /> So Dr. Jorgensen did that already for the rural track. So we have two additional residents right now. And to get ASCGME accreditation, essentially you have to meet a whole bunch of requirements about space, about faculty, about time, about learning. And it's not easy. And Dr. Jorgensen accomplished that, got the accreditation for that. And it's a long process, so it can take up to a year to get all that done.</p> <p>00;09;38;14 - 00;09;44;20<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> It's just good for the listeners to hear, you know, and know what's realistic. Yes. It's not going to be a fix in six weeks.</p> <p>00;09;44;21 - 00;10;12;17<br /> Jodi Tate<br /> No, this is a very long process. Okay. Yeah. And the ACG acknowledges an understands that we as a state, as a country, need to do better in educating our physicians in rural America. And they've created a think tank for rural and medically underserved populations to try to determine how they can help states develop programs and reach ACGME accreditation and given all the strict requirements.</p> <p>00;10;12;28 - 00;10;15;18<br /> Jodi Tate<br /> But that is just started. So they're just trying to figure that out now.</p> <p>00;10;15;24 - 00;10;29;27<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> Gotcha. So what about the structure of the residency program? You said that is underway and I think you have had six residents go through so far or are in the process of going through? What's the first year, second or third year, fourth year look like for them?</p> <p>00;10;30;03 - 00;11;03;17<br /> Jodi Tate<br /> Yes. So, again, this is Dr. Jorgensen's area and this is all her developing this. So there so I hope I'm going to get this right. But their first year they do a primary care rotation in rural Iowa. And then their second year, they have three months of electives that are all in rural areas. And then their third year they have a telesite clinic to a rural area. And then their fourth year they can do any of those electives that I just mentioned.</p> <p>00;11;03;29 - 00;11;26;03<br /> Jodi Tate<br /> And she is currently working with other parts of the state to expand and rural locations for residents. So that's our current state. Our future state will be to develop our residency program even further and there will be a lot of collaboration between Dr. Jorgensen's program and what we decide to do in the future with expanding throughout the state.</p> <p>00;11;26;15 - 00;11;48;25<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> Well, and also through the fellowships that you're just now establishing in terms of what does this look like and feel like in rural America? Right, Right. So thank you for being on what I often call the bleeding edge of innovation. So it's not always comfortable and but but often, you know, thank heavens for the Wright brothers who were the first people to go up in that plane.</p> <p>00;11;48;25 - 00;12;08;26<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> Right. You're the first person to try to do this in rural America through the fellowships. So you've mentioned a couple of times that the government of Iowa has been incredibly supportive. And you even mentioned that the governor, I think, had put forward a we can do better than this for individuals with mental illness and substance use disorders in our state.</p> <p>00;12;09;05 - 00;12;13;24<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> Its really it's been the state legislature to some degree that's been driving this?</p> <p>00;12;13;24 - 00;12;32;05<br /> Jodi Tate<br /> It has. It's been the state legislature that's been driving it. So they advocated strongly for it. It was the number one priority for for folks, and they made it happen. So it came from them. So the academic world can't claim any pats on the back for that one.</p> <p>00;12;32;08 - 00;12;49;22<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> Well, you had to be ready to catch the ball when they threw it to you, right? Yeah, right. You know, I think you get a little street cred there. The other thing I was wondering, I think in the breakout session I heard you say that for the new 12 slots that the state is actually funding $100,000 per residency slot.</p> <p>00;12;49;22 - 00;13;15;09<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> Is that correct? Yep. So just to give the listeners that sense, that may not cover all of the cost of a residency, but it certainly covers a significant part of it. So just know that your state legislature should be in contact with the Iowa State Legislature to be inspired for helping us get more health care workers. In terms of the key success elements,</p> <p>00;13;15;22 - 00;13;39;26<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> based on your experience with the psych residency program under Dr. Jorgensen's leadership and passion for this and now looking at the psychiatric fellowship programs which will once achieved, have dual role, they'll have that fellowship and also will be, you know, at the same time as they go through the fellowship, are able to oversee the residency slots. What do you think are some of the key success elements that got this off the ground?</p> <p>00;13;40;09 - 00;13;45;07<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> Certainly Dr. Jorgensen deserves a bright star, but were there other elements in addition to that?</p> <p>00;13;45;13 - 00;14;22;13<br /> Jodi Tate<br /> Well, I think willing is to collaborate and communicate across different organizations. It always comes down to communication and collaboration. So I have met a lot of new people during this adventure and finding out that we all share something in common and that's trying to improve health, mental health care to Iowans. And so I think willingness to collaborate, willingness to communicate, willingness to think big, but then also realize, okay, well, this is our big end dream, but what are the steps we have to get to do that?</p> <p>00;14;22;25 - 00;14;40;24<br /> Jodi Tate<br /> And is it going to be perfect starting out? Probably not. But let's just go and let's try it. So I think collaboration and communication and willingness to to try and to think and then willingness to actually make it happen and put the hard work in to make it happen.</p> <p>00;14;41;00 - 00;14;50;00<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> And I thought I heard in there the ability to pivot. Yes. In case it's not going to be exactly going in the direction that you dreamed of initially. Okay.</p> <p>00;14;50;07 - 00;14;55;07<br /> Jodi Tate<br /> Right. Who knows where this will end up, But we've got to start trying to figure it out. Yeah.</p> <p>00;14;55;18 - 00;15;17;24<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> So let me ask you this two last questions. One, if you had to pick the biggest barrier that you overcame or went around or underneath, what would that be? Something for people to learn from your lessons, your own experience, so they can see the barrier is there and perhaps prepare better for it?</p> <p>00;15;18;06 - 00;15;46;07<br /> Jodi Tate<br /> Well, I wish Dr. Jorgensen was up here because she's actually gotten over all those hurdles and her program is off the ground. And I'm just in the early stages of doing this next phase. But but I would say that the biggest hurdle so far has been getting everybody together here to talk, to have a similar vision, even though that vision may be not exactly clear, but at least something that everyone can agree on.</p> <p>00;15;46;07 - 00;15;57;24<br /> Jodi Tate<br /> And I think we're still working on that. But I think having something that the group can agree on is where we need to go. So I would say I'm in the middle stages of that.</p> <p>00;15;58;12 - 00;16;01;09<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> But you're building the foundation for the collaboration.</p> <p>00;16;01;12 - 00;16;01;26<br /> Jodi Tate<br /> Thank you.</p> <p>00;16;01;26 - 00;16;07;01<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> Yes, that sounds like. Right. Yeah. And that's not easy work because it means relationships, right?</p> <p>00;16;07;01 - 00;16;08;16<br /> Jodi Tate<br /> It's all about building relationships. Yeah.</p> <p>00;16;08;16 - 00;16;35;01<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> And learning the things about the other organizations that you didn't know were struggles or challenges. And they for you. Yeah. All right. So we are going to wrap this up. Are there a couple of things that you want to leave the listeners with that might inspire them to say, Hey, I'm going to start talking to my state representative and see if we can get something off the ground or I'm going to talk to my local academic medical center, something to inspire them as we close this out.</p> <p>00;16;35;13 - 00;16;58;22<br /> Jodi Tate<br /> Yeah, I think at least for some of us that have been in the mental health system for a long time, it's hard sometimes not to think there's so many problems that we can't overcome. But I think that we have to keep optimism and keep some idealism that, you know, I've lost some of that. But to keep it that, you know, that we can fix this or we could please try to fix this.</p> <p>00;16;59;09 - 00;17;18;22<br /> Jodi Tate<br /> And there is hope. And if we work together and we get the right type of people together that are passionate about mental health care and are passionate about making changes, then it can happen. So never give up hope and always keep trying.</p> <p>00;17;19;00 - 00;17;28;16<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> That's exceptional. And I do believe that the Generation Z and all of those the millennials, they are going to demand.</p> <p>00;17;28;29 - 00;17;29;10<br /> Jodi Tate<br /> Good.</p> <p>00;17;29;20 - 00;17;42;11<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> Treatment for their entire for their whole self, right? Just like the surgeon general said, you know, there is no complete good health without good mental health. So hopefully we have a lot of champions coming behind you and I.</p> <p>00;17;42;11 - 00;17;44;11<br /> Jodi Tate<br /> Yes. So we need them. We need them.</p> <p>00;17;44;12 - 00;17;50;12<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> Keep the optimism going. And thank you so much, Dr. Tate. This has been a joy and thank you for the work you're doing.</p> <p>00;17;50;14 - 00;17;50;29<br /> Jodi Tate<br /> Thank you.</p> </details> Fri, 26 May 2023 08:22:03 -0500 Recruitment and Selection /testimony/2023-05-17-aha-house-testimony-vha-recruitment-and-retention-bureaucracy-holding-back-quality-workforce <p class="text-align-center"><strong>Testimony</strong></p> <p class="text-align-center"><strong>of the</strong></p> <p class="text-align-center"><strong>���������� Association</strong></p> <p class="text-align-center"><strong>for the</strong></p> <p class="text-align-center"><strong>Committee on Veterans’ Affairs </strong></p> <p class="text-align-center"><strong>Subcommittee on Health and Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations </strong></p> <p class="text-align-center"><strong>of the </strong></p> <p class="text-align-center"><strong>U.S. House of Representatives </strong></p> <p class="text-align-center"><strong>VHA Recruitment and Retention: Is Bureaucracy Holding Back a Quality Workforce? </strong></p> <p class="text-align-center"><strong>May 17, 2023</strong></p> <p>Chairmen Miller-Meeks and Kiggans, Ranking Members Brownley and Mrvan, and members of the Subcommittees, I am Robyn Begley, senior vice president of workforce and chief nursing officer at the ���������� Association (AHA), and chief executive officer of the American Organization for Nursing Leadership (AONL), an affiliate of the AHA. On behalf of the AHA’s nearly 5,000 member hospitals and health systems, along with our clinician partners, I appreciate the opportunity to testify today on health care workforce challenges and successes, including recruitment and retention, outside of the Department of Veterans Affairs.</p> <h2>SUSTAINING THE HEALTH CARE WORKFORCE</h2> <p>A qualified, engaged and diverse workforce is the cornerstone of America’s health care system. Health care workers often say they feel called to serve patients, families and communities. However, long-building structural changes in the health care workforce combined with the profound toll of the COVID-19 pandemic have left hospitals and health systems, including post-acute and behavioral health care providers, facing a national staffing emergency that could jeopardize access to quality, equitable care for the patients and communities they serve. Simply put, our nation cannot maintain access to high quality care for patients and communities without health care workers.</p> <p>Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals were already facing significant challenges making it difficult to sustain, build and retain the health care workforce. In 2017, the majority of the nursing workforce was close to retirement, with more than half aged 50 and older, and almost 30% aged 60 and older. Yet, nursing schools had to turn away over 78,000 qualified applications in 2022, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), due to lack of faculty and training sites. Data released this month by AACN indicated that the number of students in entry-level baccalaureate nursing programs decreased by 1.4% in 2022, ending a 20-year period of enrollment growth in programs designed to prepare new registered nurses.</p> <p>The unprecedented scope, scale and severity of nursing workforce challenges also was reflected in the recently released results of a large-scale biennial survey conducted in 2022 by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing and National Forum of State Nursing Workforce Centers. Based on responses from over 53,000 registered nurses and licensed practical and vocational nurses from 45 states, the study estimates that 100,000 nurses left the workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, nearly 900,000 nurses – or nearly one fifth of the 4.5 million total registered nurses – intend to leave the workforce due to stress, burnout and retirement. Of particular concern, the study estimated that nearly 189,000 registered nurses younger than age 40 reported an intent to leave the workforce. Large proportions of nurses also reported feeling emotionally drained (50.8%), burned out (45.1%) or at the “end of their rope” (29.4%) either a few times per week or daily.</p> <p>Hospitals faced similarly troubling trends for physicians and other health care providers. Data from the Association of American Medical Colleges indicates that one-third of practicing physicians will reach retirement age over the next decade. Hospitals also were reporting significant shortages of allied health and behavioral health professionals.</p> <h2>SUPPORTING THE WELL-BEING OF THE HEALTH CARE WORKFORCE</h2> <p>The traumatic impact of COVID-19 has amplified the need for support to improve clinician well-being, destigmatize mental health and address overall wellness. Addressing well-being cannot be isolated from other efforts to improve the work lives and well-being of health care workers, including mitigating workplace violence and expanding access to behavioral health care.</p> <p>Nurses, physicians and other staff on the front lines of care in U.S. hospitals, emergency departments and health care systems experience high rates of violence. According to a survey of registered nurses working in hospitals during the pandemic, 44% of respondents reported experiencing physical violence and 68% reported experiencing verbal abuse.<sup>1</sup> Despite the near-daily occurrence of abuse directed toward health care workers, there is no federal law that protects them by specifying consequences for acts of violence or intimidation. According to a <a href="https://www.emergencyphysicians.org/article/er101/poll-ed-violence-is-on-the-rise" target="_blank">2022 American College of Emergency Physician (ACEP) survey</a>, 85% of emergency physicians believe the rate of violence experienced in emergency departments has increased over the past five years.</p> <p>The AHA urges Congress to consider the following policies to support the well-being of the health care workforce:</p> <p><strong>Protect health care workers from violence</strong>. Congress should enact H.R. 2584, the Safety from Violence for Healthcare Employees (SAVE) Act. This legislation would provide federal protections for health care workers against violence and intimidation, as well as provide grant funding to hospitals for violence prevention programs, coordination with state and local law enforcement, and physical plant improvements such as enhanced technology.</p> <p><strong>Continue to provide grant funding support to well-being focused initiatives</strong>. Thanks to the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act of 2022, the health care field received important funding for projects that help support well-being in their workplaces. We encourage Congress to provide additional support for projects and collaborative efforts to scale successful practices on well-being across the health care field, especially those efforts that link well-being with hospital efforts to improve quality and the patient experience.</p> <h2>HOSPITALS AND HEALTH SYSTEMS SUPPORTING THEIR WORKFORCE</h2> <p><strong>Hospitals and health systems exist and can continually care for patients because of the physicians, nurses, technologists, supply chain professionals, facilities management specialists and the many other professionals who work in them. We cannot care for patients without these caregivers and team members. They are always there ready to care, and it is our job to support them.</strong></p> <p>This is why hospitals and health systems are collaborating to expand training opportunities, ethically recruiting internationally, launching nurse and allied health professional education programs, reimagining workforce models, investing in upskilling and providing nontraditional support for health care workers.</p> <p>The following are examples of ways hospitals and health systems are supporting the workforce.</p> <p><strong>Collaborating</strong></p> <ul> <li>Mary Washington Healthcare in Virginia partners with Germanna Community College on an Earn While You Learn program, onboarding two cohorts of as many as 60 nursing students each year, who work 12-20 hours a week using a clinical rotation model. The program includes an additional nursing school, as well as mentor models for nursing assistants and is exploring an apprenticeship model for other clinical roles, such as surgical technologists.</li> <li>Participants in the Jump Start program at MercyOne in Iowa receive a monthly stipend while they finish nursing school. MercyOne covers the cost of board exams and licensing fees, and provides employment upon RN licensure.</li> <li>Hospitals also are pursuing private-sector solutions to rapidly train nurses. For example, Galen College of Nursing, one of the nation’s largest nursing schools, includes an accelerated 3-year bachelors of nursing program and multiple educational advancement pathways for nurses at all levels.</li> <li>The Chicagoland Healthcare Workforce Collaborative, formed among four hospitals and health systems partnering with Malcolm X Community College and other community organizations, developed a program to fill high-demand jobs and increase retention. The Medical Assistant Pathway Program enables employees to complete a Medical Assistant certification program while still working. The program offers tuition coverage, transportation support and subsidy as well as internal and external mentoring and career coaching.</li> <li>The Workforce Readiness Institute is a workforce strategy partnership between Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center and Colby-Sawyer College to train licensed practical nurses, medical assistants, surgical techs, pharmacy techs and ophthalmic assistants. It also includes opportunities for existing RNs to complete a BSN and an option for an accelerated nursing degree. Through the program, more than 1,000 people have joined the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center.</li> <li>Norton Healthcare’s Student Nurse Apprenticeship Program is a 12-to-18 month program that supports the accredited associate and baccalaureate student nurse. It pairs one student with an RN in acute care to increase a student nurse’s readiness for nursing practice. Student nurses are competitively paid for their time in the program.</li> <li>Phoebe Putney Health System developed partnerships with secondary and post-secondary academic institutions to address the nursing faculty shortage. Each partnership is unique, including career exploration for middle and high school students, and funding part-time and full-time classroom and clinical instructors and faculty. They invested $35 million in creating a Living and Learning Community for student nurses, new graduate nurses and early career nursing professionals.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Recruiting Internationally</strong></p> <ul> <li>Over the next three years, Sanford Health headquartered in Sioux Falls, S.D., plans to hire more than 700 internationally trained nurses to work in its health system. Sanford covers housing during the initial transition period and has instituted a program to acculturate nurses to their new communities.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Launching Nursing Programs</strong></p> <ul> <li>Nearly 60 schools and hospitals across the country partnered to start or expand nursing programs in 2022. These programs range from accelerated BSN programs and virtual nursing programs to brand-new nursing schools and licensed practical nursing programs.</li> <li>Corewell Health System in Michigan is providing $20 million to Oakland University — $10 million in grants for nursing students and $10 million to support infrastructure expansion and faculty hiring. Students who receive a grant commit to working for Corewell Health for two years following graduation.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Reimagining Workforce Models</strong></p> <ul> <li>As part of its ongoing efforts to better recruit and retain talented health professionals amid the significant labor shortages, Pittsburgh-based Allegheny Health Network launched “Work Your Way,” a mobile internal staffing model to provide flexible work-life solutions for nurses, surgical technologists and other team members. This unique program allows health professionals the freedom and flexibility to choose how and when they want to work.</li> <li>Jefferson Health’s Nursing SEAL Team reimagines how to address variability in staffing needs by matching preferences of nurses to work in different settings and providing increased flexibility by deploying them to provide specialty nursing care across all of Jefferson’s acute care locations.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Upskilling</strong></p> <ul> <li>Colorado’s UCHealth plans to invest $50 million in its Ascend leadership program to help current and prospective employees earn clinical certification, participate in foundational learning programs such as English language and college prep, and earn degrees in areas such as social work and behavioral health. Newly hired employees also will be able to earn a high school diploma or GED</li> <li> Along with three educational partners, the University Medical Center of El Paso in Texas will pay up to $5,000 annually for two years for employees to earn a degree in nursing, respiratory, imaging or other hard-to-fill fields. Employees maintain full-time employment status and compensation while working part-time. Under another new program, the hospital is offering eligible employees pursuing a health care degree up to $5,250 a year in student loan-repayment assistance.</li> <li>To fill the scores of medical assistant openings, Vanderbilt University Medical Center partnered with Nashville State Community College to train current employees, including truck drivers and environmental services staff. During training, workers continue to receive their full salary plus tuition reimbursement. They also train high school students to receive medical assistant certification.</li> <li>In Pennsylvania, Geisinger’s Nursing Scholars Program awards $40,000 in financial support to each employee who is pursuing a nursing career and makes a five-year commitment to work as an inpatient nurse.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Nontraditional Support</strong></p> <ul> <li>St. Luke’s Wood River Medical Center, located in a popular Idaho tourist area, is building single-family homes that will be affordable long-term rentals for employees.</li> <li>Bozeman Health in Montana invested in a future workforce housing complex to provide employees with affordable rentals.</li> <li>Northwell Health, Johns Hopkins, Cleveland Clinic and BJC Healthcare are among employers offering grants or forgivable loans that can be used for employees’ housing costs.</li> </ul> <h2>EXPLORING NEW CARE MODELS</h2> <p><strong>Severe workforce constraints have prompted hospitals and health systems to develop and evaluate innovative new team-based models to support staffing in their organizations.</strong> Hospitals have used technology-enabled virtual nursing models to help with remote patient monitoring in order to help provide an extra support to bedside nurses. Looking at their non-physician and non-nursing caregivers, some organizations are using these professionals to take on tasks that may not require a physician or nursing license. Enabling practice at top of one’s education and license can lead to greater staff satisfaction but also better use of limited resources.</p> <p>Hospitals need flexibility to test, evaluate and – when the evidence supports it – implement new models. <strong>That is why we urge policymakers to avoid the use of restrictive staffing rules that limit innovation and threaten to exacerbate health care access challenges, such as nurse staffing ratios or levels.</strong> Nurse staffing is a decision based on complex variables under the purview of the nurse such as patient population, care delivery models, unit layout, patient acuity and the education and experience of the nurse. Mandated nurse staffing ratios imply a “one size fits all” approach and impedes the ability to respond to a patient’s care needs in real time.</p> <p><strong>The AHA and AONL believe mandated nurse staffing ratios are a static and ineffective tool that does not guarantee a safe health care environment, quality or optimum patient outcomes. Staffing ratios are usually informed by older nursing-only care models and do not consider advanced capabilities in technology or interprofessional team-care models</strong>. These newer models incorporate not only nurses at various levels of licensure, but also respiratory therapists, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, physical therapists and case managers.</p> <p>Hospitals and health systems across the country are working to advance safety, affordability and value by transforming health care delivery. Mandated approaches to staffing not only limit this innovation but also increase stress on a health care system already facing an escalating shortage of educated nurses. Mandated staffing does not create more nurses.</p> <h2>SUPPORTING ADVANCES IN TECHNOLOGY</h2> <p>Health care workforce shortages have led to challenges but also creative solutions to workflows, workplaces and teams. The broad adoption of telehealth is just one example how we improved where and how patients can access care. Regulatory flexibilities available under the public health emergency allowed exploration of the most effective treatment modalities and locations to allow providers to care for their communities in the midst of surging illness and concerns. The innovative approaches that emerged during the pandemic provide an avenue to rethink care delivery in light of the current workforce capacity. These advances require continued regulatory flexibility and funding to continue. Organizations need additional funding to continue to pilot, test and scale those changes that can best support their current workforce in caring for their communities.</p> <p>Hospitals and health systems are exploring the use of technology by automating certain clinical documentation, as well as using artificial intelligence to help consolidate and trend large amounts of clinical information to provide insights for delivering care. Technology is not a substitute for caregivers, but it can enhance their ability to practice efficiently and reduce burden. Congress could consider providing support for pilot testing innovative technology solutions that support the health care workforce.</p> <h2>TRAVEL NURSES, TEMPORARY LABOR ISSUES</h2> <p>To help offset the critical shortage of workers and maintain appropriate levels of care for patients, nearly every hospital in the country was forced to hire temporary staff at some point during the pandemic, including contract or travel nurses.2 Hospitals’ reliance on travel nurses and the inflated associated costs to employ them have grown significantly since the start of the pandemic. The AHA has previously pointed out that the rates these staffing firms charge hospitals grew much faster than the rates the firms actually paid the staff,<sup>3</sup> meaning the firms pocketed more at the time of greatest need.</p> <p>The AHA remains concerned that the conduct of some of these travel staffing agencies bears the hallmarks of collusion and perhaps other abuses. The AHA sent letters urging the <a href="/system/files/media/file/2021/02/aha-urges-ftc-examine-anticompetitive-behavior-nurse-staffing-agencies-commercial-insurers-2-4-21.pdf" target="_blank">Federal Trade Commission</a> and the <a href="/system/files/media/file/2022/01/aha-ahca-ncal-urge-white-house-to-follow-up-on-staffing-agency-pricing-concerns-letter-1-27-22.pdf" target="_blank">White House</a> to use their authority to investigate these reports of anticompetitive behavior.</p> <h2>POLICY SOLUTIONS</h2> <p><strong>Our workforce challenges are a national emergency that demand immediate attention from all levels of government and workable solutions.</strong> These include recruiting, revitalizing and diversifying the health care workforce. Congress should consider the following policies to help sustain and support the nation’s workforce:</p> <ul> <li><strong>Address nursing shortages by investing in nursing education and faculty.</strong> Schools of nursing continue to need more faculty, preceptors and clinical training sites to support students, new graduates and prospective students. The Future Advancement of Academic Nursing Act would provide those vital resources to support the needs of nursing students, help retain and hire diverse faculty, modernize nursing education infrastructure, and create and expand clinical education opportunities.<br />  </li> <li><strong>Provide scholarships and loan repayment.</strong> Title VIII Nursing Workforce Development programs such as Nurse Corps help bolster the advanced practice and nursing workforce by addressing the shortage of nursing faculty and clinical sites, as well as funding nursing schools located in rural and underserved communities. The CARES Act reauthorized these critical programs through 2024. Reauthorizing and funding these programs remain a necessity. Congress should ensure nursing students are eligible to receive such benefits to attend nursing schools regardless of the educational institution’s tax status and ensure parity of treatment for hospitals and their workers regardless of tax status in federal health programs, including those enumerated in the Public Health Service Act.<br />  </li> <li><strong>Reauthorize and increase funding for the National Health Service Corps (NHSC)</strong>. This program awards scholarships and assists graduates of health professions programs with loan repayment in return for an obligation to provide health care services in underserved rural and urban areas. The AHA supports the Strengthening Community Care Act of 2023 (H.R. 2559) to extend funding for community health centers and the NHSC. The NHSC is a critically important program for both giving clinicians support to offset the substantial cost of their education, while also incentivizing practice in underserved rural and urban health professional shortage areas across the country.<br />  </li> <li><strong>Increase GME slots</strong>. Address physician shortages, including shortages of behavioral health providers, by increasing the number of residency slots eligible for Medicare funding. AHA supports the Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act of 2023, S. 1302, a bipartisan bill that would lift caps on Medicare-funded residency<br /> slots.<br />  </li> <li><strong>Support foreign-trained health care workers.</strong> Support expedition of visas for foreign-trained nurses and continuation of visa waivers for physicians in medically underserved areas.<br />  </li> <li><strong>Investigate travel nurse agency practices.</strong> We urge Congress to direct the Government Accountability Office to study the business practices of travel nurse staffing agencies during the pandemic, including potential price gouging and excessive profits, increased margins that agencies retain for themselves, impact of increased reliance on travel nurses in rural areas, and how these practices contribute to workforce shortages across the country.<br />  </li> </ul> <h2>CONCLUSION</h2> <p>The AHA appreciates your recognition of the challenges ahead and the need to examine America’s health care workforce issues. We must work together to solve these issues so our nation’s hospitals and health systems, post-acute and behavioral health care providers can continue to care for the patients and communities they serve.</p> <p>__________</p> <p><small><sup>1</sup><a href="http://https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/21650799211031233" target="_blank"> https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/21650799211031233</a><br /> 2 <a href="https://www.amnhealthcare.com/siteassets/amn-insights/surveys/amn-survey-of-temporary-allied-healthcare-professional-staff-trends-2021.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.amnhealthcare.com/siteassets/amn-insights/surveys/amn-survey-of-temporary-allied-healthcare-professional-staff-trends-2021.pdf</a>3 h<a href="https://www.amnhealthcare.com/siteassets/amn-insights/surveys/amn-survey-of-temporary-allied-healthcare-professional-staff-trends-2021.pdf" target="_blank">ttps://www.aha.org/costsofcaring</a></small></p> Wed, 17 May 2023 08:00:55 -0500 Recruitment and Selection