Members of the Governor’s Task Force on the Health Care Workforce pointed to nursing and long-term care as areas to be addressed.
The task force will spend the next six months putting together an action plan for Gov. Tony Evers aimed at addressing key challenges with this labor pool. That’s according to Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, who leads the effort.
Speaking yesterday during a meeting of the task force, Rodriguez noted Evers set a Sept. 1 deadline for the task force’s recommendations, so they can be included in his next state budget plan. He signed the executive order creating the group in January.
“We’re going to be recommending solutions, including possible new policies and programs, modifications to existing programs, and any necessary changes to state statutes related to workforce development, industry innovation, education and training,” said Rodriguez, who is a registered nurse.
Along with creating the action plan focused on state policy, the task force has a secondary goal of identifying options the private sector can pursue to address workforce shortages, she said yesterday. And the task force will also provide ideas on long-term solutions, outside of the scope of the next state budget.
These efforts will begin with gathering information from experts now followed by identifying possible solutions starting in May. By July, the task force will be seeking public feedback and starting to finalize its recommendations.
Department of Workforce Development Chief Economist Dennis Winters yesterday shared an overview on the state’s labor outlook and recent employment trends. Using 2019 as a benchmark, he noted most segments of the health care workforce have exceeded those levels in the post-pandemic era.
“Still, nursing care facilities and elder care facilities … We’re not back up to where we were, we’re losing a lot of slots there,” he said. “So that’s just not the place we’re growing. Offices of physicians, centers, hospitals, health care services are the ones now have recovered and are continuing to grow.”
Meanwhile, Department of Health Services Secretary Kirsten Johnson referenced a recent Wisconsin Hospital Association report highlighting persistent labor shortages in health care, noting these affect the quality of care statewide.
“In it, you can see clearly that the demand for care is continuing to increase, and we, our workforce, just can’t keep up,” she said. “Their report specifically highlights nurses, direct care workers and allied health professionals, and they’re really the ones who’ve continued to experience these shortages.”
Johnson noted 11% of nursing homes in the state were cited for having substandard care last year — “not because they don’t want to do what’s right, but because they just don’t have the staff to fill all their positions.” DHS has launched a customer service initiative to help address the rising complaints linked to low staffing levels at these facilities, Johnson said.
Meanwhile, acquisitions and consolidations in the nursing home industry are reducing the number of facilities in the state, she added.
“Over the past 10 years, we’ve lost 66 nursing homes in Wisconsin, and 13 in the last year alone,” she said. “These closures really have a negative impact on the people who are living in these facilities. It’s stressful, and it often leads to poor health outcomes.”
