Healthcare Personnel Shortage Priorities

Health Care Personnel Shortages are still severe

• In May 2005, there were 11,347 job vacancies for health care practitioners and technical personnel (up from 8,206 in May 2004).
  
• Demand for health care professionals is expected to rise through 2020 or later due to the state's aging population.
  
• Washington hospitals alone contribute $17.5 billion to the state's economy annually (direct and indirect impacts), serving also as the foundation for the state's biotech initiative.
  
• The industry employs more than 207,000 people.
  

 

Progress since 2002:

• At least 2,230 additional students have entered
  Health care education.
  
• Capacity at community, technical, and four-year colleges and universities has expanded by 778 full-time equivalent students.
  Targeted high-demand funds and the success of industry
  
• Health care skill panels have been the key causes of success.
  
• Annual progress reports to the Legislature outline progress in education capacity expansion, recruitment and preparation, and retention in detail.
  

 

Health Care Personnel Shortage Task Force Priorities

Established in 2002, the Health Care Personnel Shortage Task Force, convened by the Workforce Board, analyzes and make recommendations to address the severe health care workforce shortages in Washington. Legislation requires the Task Force to report progress annually.

The Task Force recommends that the Governor, Legislature, educational institutions, and industry partners:

• Collect data on the supply of health care practitioners to target scarce resources effectively.
  
• Expand educational capacity in high-demand health care education and training programs, allowing for the higher costs of these programs.
  
• Support industry skill panels with additional funding to implement effective solutions that meet local and state health workforce needs.
  
• Increase health care workforce diversity by creating educational opportunities, and more recently faculty diversity to our educational institutions. Collect health workforce supply data to monitor progress.
  
• Increase faculty availability by providing health care faculty salaries that are competitive with industry.
  
• Develop health care programs in K-12 in career pathways and continue to expand work-based learning in healthcare settings.
  
• Develop core curricula and articulation pathways enabling students to more easily transfer among educational institutions statewide.
  

 

The Health Care Personnel Shortage Task Force comprises 20 state leaders from business, labor, education, professional associations, and government convened by the Workforce Board.

Executive Director: Ellen O'Brien Saunders, 360.753.5660 Policy Analyst: Madeleine Thompson, 360.753.5653