The coming years will see increasing employee challenges in the industry, forcing leaders to take proactive action.
Staffing shortages in the healthcare sector won’t go away any time soon.
In fact, report Consulting firm Mercer predicts there will be a shortage of more than 100,000 critical care workers nationwide by 2028, meaning many hospital and health system CEOs will need to consider how to bolster their workforces.
For the study, Mercer used historical data and trends through 2023 to project labor market changes across states, metropolitan areas and microstatistical areas.
The analysis found that if workforce trends continue, there will be 18.6 million healthcare workers in the U.S. in 2028, up from 16.9 million currently working in the industry. The projected growth is not expected to keep up with demand, as labor requirements are expected to rise to about 18.7 million over that period, leading to a shortage of more than 100,000 workers.
“While this number may not seem like a crisis in absolute terms, it places an additional burden on a system already strained by geographic and demographic differences in access to care,” the report reads.
What is causing the deficiency?
The labor problem will only get worse as demand exceeds supply.
As Americans live longer than ever before and older people use services more often, the needs of an aging population will require more workers.
The supply side, however, is moving in the opposite direction, with workers either leaving the industry or fewer people entering clinical professions due to factors such as burnout, uncompetitive pay and pandemic-related reasons, Mercer said.
Deficit and surplus
The good news? Not every state will face a worker shortage, because the shortage will vary by geography and occupation, researchers found.
Populous states like California, Texas and Pennsylvania are projected to see their workforces outpace demand, while states like New York and New Jersey are expected to face even larger shortfalls.
Even states that are expected to have overall surpluses could have shortages in a specific profession. For example, California and Texas will face some of the largest physician deficits, compared to states like Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Minnesota, which have larger surpluses.
The supply of registered nurses nationwide is projected to outstrip demand, with a surplus of nearly 30,000 expected by 2028, according to the report. Still, states like New York, Tennessee and Massachusetts will face shortages of registered nurses.
Mercer noted that among the occupations surveyed, nurse specialists would see the fastest average annual growth (3.5%), while nurse aides would see the slowest growth (0.1%).
How CEOs should respond
Understanding how the workforce shortage will impact the region in the coming years can help hospital leaders better understand how to improve recruitment and retention.
Particularly in the context of compensation, knowing whether your state is facing a physician shortage can influence your decision to offer more competitive salaries to workers in your area or recruit from states with a surplus of physicians.
Prioritize jobs that are critical to expanding services and fill them as quickly as possible, Mercer said. Build your pipeline to include partnerships with local universities and schools to improve access to future workers.
The most important thing is to focus on the employees who currently work for your organization. Employee turnover is costly in the short and long term, so avoiding attrition should be paramount. This requires investment and attention to well-being measures and creative approaches to benefits such as flexible scheduling and career development.
As Mercer noted, for example, relieving clinical staff of administrative responsibilities by investing in automation will not only improve retention but also reduce demand.
“Efforts should be prioritized based on a long-term vision—isolated efforts to solve the ‘problem of the day’ will not lead to lasting success and will drain limited resources,” the report says. “The path to lasting success requires comprehensive data analysis to inform decisions and prioritize actions based on the highest return on investment.”
#Healthcare #Lose #Workers #CEOs #Prepare