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OUTLOOK 2022/HEALTHCARE >>
with, including higher wages for many positions, expanded benefits eligibility, bonuses, ramped- up recruiting efforts, job fairs, and other steps, all aimed at bringing improvement when it comes to both hiring and retention.
And in some respects, they’re working, said Keroack, noting that these efforts are bringing in between 100 and 150 new workers each week, with the ratio of people coming in to those leav- ing being roughly 2 to 1.
“So we’re gaining on the problem, but it still quite significant,” he said, adding that, to that point in time, the system had spent roughly $40 million on bonuses and shift differentials, and another $40 million on contract-labor expenses, for calendar year 2021.
Looking ahead, those we spoke with said that, eventually, the laws of supply and demand will being improvement to the staffing crisis, but relief is not likely to come any time soon.
Keroack said part of the problem, especially when it comes to nurses, is simply getting enough people into and then through the pipeline.
“There’s a tremendous shortage of nursing faculty members — we had a number of senior seniors take early retirement — and so the pipe- line simply wasn’t fat enough to completely replenish the pool in a quick amount of time,” he said. “We have waiting lists of people wanting to go to nursing school, but they’re limited by the number of clinical placements and the number of faculty.”
Roose agreed. “I think that at some point, a
few years from now, things will start to settle out, perhaps sooner if there can be some major inter- ventions at the federal level from a legislative per- spective, as well as reconnecting with some of the meaning behind why people get into healthcare in the first place,” he noted. “This can spur people to enter the field as a result of wanting to be
part of something so transformative. “Long-term, we could build some strength
out of this,” he went on. “But short-term, it’s going to be very challenging.”
The same can be said the mounting men- tal-health crisis impacting the region and the entire country, said Watkins, expressing opti- mism that American Rescue Plan Act funds can and will be put to use to address this emerging issue.
“A lot of what’s coming through this
act will definitely help on all fronts and all healthcare providers,” she explained, “but especially our mental-health professionals and building that pipeline to increase access to care — because we’ve all suffered, and if we’re not looking into mental-health support services, we should.”
And while COVID has certainly given all those in healthcare a number of headaches and chal- lenges, it has also given this sector the opportu- nity, born of necessity, to innovate and find and new and often better ways of doing things and caring for patients, said Watkins, adding that per- haps the best example of this is the rise of tele- health, a trend that will certainly continue in 2022 and beyond.
“While a lot of people might have thought about telehealth before the first wave of the pan- demic, now it’s here, and it’s here to stay,” she said, with conviction in her voice. “Whether it’s teleradiology, teleneurology, or other ways of engaging telehealth ... this has emerged as one of
“Long-term, we could
build some strength out of
this. But short-term, it’s
going to be very
”
challenging.
DR. ROBERT ROOSE
the key delivery options of the future; there’s more access, without the inconvenience of travel and waiting. The emergence of telehealth has been a real game changer.”
Summing things up, Watkins maintained her glass-half-full outlook, but stressed repeatedly that 2022 will pose the same challenges as the past two years, and they will likely increase in intensity before there is solid improvement.
“We have a very, very depleted workforce,” she said while speaking for all her colleagues in the industry, “and a very, very sick population.” u
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