Addressing the health care workforce shortage in upstate New York
Never has the health care workforce shortage in Upstate New York been so abysmal. Hospitals across Upstate have done more with less for longer than anyone can remember all while striving to maintain the safety of staff and patients as their paramount goal. When will it end?
Upstate hospitals are continuing to actively recruit for all positions in their hospitals. The overall average position vacancy rate currently stands at 13.5%, almost double the average vacancy rate at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. Upstate hospitals are actively recruiting for over 10,000 open positions. Vacancy rates for registered nurse positions have never been higher at 18.3%, which is triple the average vacancy rate just 6 years ago.
Upstate hospitals are currently recruiting for over 3,000 registered nurse position openings.
More than ever before due to the lack of applicants for vacant positions, hospitals in Upstate central and northern New York have had little choice but to turn to traveling nursing agencies paying exorbitant hourly rates that are nothing more than unscrupulous price gouging.
This has had a horrific domino effect for hospitals, with employed nurses fleeing hospitals for the short- term monetary gain of travel nurse service, increased overtime costs in the millions of dollars, and hospitals out bidding each other for traveling nurses — once again leaving smaller hospitals and those with fewer resources at the bottom of the pile.
When will it end? With COVID-19 once again spiking with the highly transmissible Omicron variant, vaccine mandates further reducing low staffing levels, elimination of elective surgeries— along with that the elimination of an important revenue source for hospitals, and little financial assistance from policymakers, Iroquois Healthcare Association hospitals and others across the state have few options to manage pandemic response. As of November 22, hospitals were directed to revoke religious exemptions to the vaccine mandate and fire or furlough staff that still refuse the vaccine.
Then came the directive to increase staffing or risk the State shut down of elective surgical procedures. This is a devastating combination of nonstop hits for our hospitals. Devastating!
All that said, the Iroquois Healthcare Association supports vaccination efforts. In fact, one way to help is to ensure all New Yorkers get vaccinated. This will effectively reduce the number of hospitalizations
What’s more, hospitals are required to comply with new legal staffing ratios that some hospitals in rural less populated communities will just never be able to meet. One size does not fit all in New York State, especially for our Upstate hospitals. This is why, as the State sits with a projected $3 billion surplus, the Iroquois Healthcare Association is urging Governor Hochul, Majority Leader Stewart Cousins, and Speaker Heastie to immediately invest $1 Billion in hospitals for recruitment and retention so that they can address this workforce crisis and plan for a future beyond the pandemic.
There is no more time to wait for relief. The time to act is in the rearview. With every passing day we continue to hear from hospitals and their staff about the need recruit more staff and new ways to retain and recognize the staff that we have. A long-standing challenge. Upstate New York hospitals need policy makers to act and do so swiftly. In addition to making financial assistance immediately available, Iroquois calls on Attorney General James to take immediate steps to stop the price gouging by traveling nurse agencies.
Moreover, the State should continue to fund Workforce Investment Organizations (WIO) and expand WIO’s purview to acute care. Thereby leveraging the investment made by the State in the WIOs to innovate health care recruitment and retention.
Iroquois runs the only statewide WIO, IHA WIO, and is poised to extend its work using its Caring Gene © campaign and artificial intelligence strategies to acute care recruitment and retention activities.
We need relief for the safety and health of hospital staff, patients and all New Yorkers!
Gary J. Fitzgerald is President & CEO of Iroquois Healthcare Association (IHA), a regional healthcare trade organization based in Clifton Park, N.Y. that represents 50 hospitals and health systems in 32 counties of Upstate New York. IHA is the leading resource for facilities and professionals bringing quality health care to the region. For more information, please visit www.iroquois.org.