The federal government needs to be more proactive in alleviating healthcare workforce shortages, Rick Pollack, president and CEO of the American Hospital Association, wrote in a Jan. 27 letter on the organization's website.
In the letter, Mr. Pollack wrote the dire workforce shortages the healthcare industry is facing are projected to get worse. He wrote that by the end of 2022, the industry is set to lose 500,000 nurses, mostly through retirement. In addition, because of shortages in teaching staff and difficulties with classroom space, nursing schools had to turn away more than 80,000 qualified applicants in 2019.
He suggested four actions the federal government and policymakers should take to help alleviate the crisis:
- Increase support for faculty and administrators of nursing schools to educate the next generation of nurses.
- Provide more loan forgiveness programs and increase scholarships for workers in the healthcare industry.
- Lift the cap on Medicare-funded physician residency programs.
- Expedite visas of highly skilled foreign workers.