Experts have been ringing the alarm about the impending healthcare delivery professional workforce shortage for over a decade. Mindy & Ryan are joined by Vynamic’s Marisa Deline to explore the broad implications of this shortage and discuss ways healthcare leaders across sectors can think about addressing – or simply learning to live with – this foundational issue. The conversation begins with a detailed overview of the widespread nature of the shortage: from physicians to medical assistants there simply are not enough healthcare workers to meet demand and future projections only anticipate the trend worsening over time (01:54). The COVID-19 pandemic, which contributed to healthcare professional burnout, only served to hasten the trend (0:2:36); as has the ‘Great Resignation,’ where many in direct care delivery positions have left for more lucrative, flexible options in tech, healthcare startups, and other roles where their clinical skills are highly valued (05:11). This shortage has obvious implications for quality of delivery across delivery settings, but also snowballs into other healthcare sectors as well; insurers must focus more keenly on network adequacy and life science organizations must think about different models to provide therapeutic education to their provider partners (11:41). Despite these challenges, there are opportunities for the broader healthcare community to address these issues head-on, and we can take some solace in the knowledge that this is a global issue (16:13). We must collectively ‘ruthlessly prioritize’ to ensure that we are focused on opportunities that will have a real impact on the issue, such as subsidizing clinical training, increasing the number of clinical training opportunities, elevating non-physician/nurse professionals to provide more services, and ensuring that future healthcare delivery professionals feel like they are entering a field that will not just burn them out, but will provide them with a rich and fulfilling career (18:43).

Podcast Tags: healthcare, healthcare news, workforce crisis, public health, providers, physicians, nurses, Life Sciences

Source Links:

· https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/workforce/11-of-us-hospitals-critically-understaffed-21-anticipate-shortages-numbers-by-state.html

· https://www.advisory.com/Topics/Strategy-Planning-and-Growth/2021/12/Hard-truths-on-the-current-and-future-state-of-the-nursing-workforce

· https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/hospitals/lawmakers-aha-urge-white-house-to-investigate-nurse-staffing-agencies-price-hikes

· https://morningconsult.com/2021/10/04/health-care-workers-series-part-2-workforce/

· https://www.mercer.us/content/dam/mercer/assets/content-images/north-america/united-states/us-healthcare-news/us-2021-healthcare-labor-market-whitepaper.pdf

· https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2021/11/the-mass-exodus-of-americas-health-care-workers/620713/?utm_source=STAT+Newsletters&utm_campaign=49ab812eb4-MR_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8cab1d7961-49ab812eb4-151759045

· https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/industry/health-care/health-care-workforce-trends.html

· https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/healthcare-trends-of-2022/618018/

· https://hbr.org/2022/01/11-trends-that-will-shape-work-in-2022-and-beyond

For additional discussion, please contact us at TrendingHealth.com or share a voicemail at 1-888-VYNAMIC.

Mindy McGrath, Healthcare Industry Advisor

[email protected]

Ryan Hummel, Executive and Head of Provider Sector

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Marisa Deline, Manager

[email protected]