President and CEO Mike Slubowski Calls on Washington DC Leaders to Address Health Care Workforce Shortage Crisis

President and CEO Mike Slubowski Calls on Washington D.C. Leaders to Address Health Care Workforce Shortage Crisis

Health systems are experiencing unprecedented workforce shortages and the current COVID-19 surge is pushing us to a crisis level. Our staff are exhausted, burned-out and their resilience is depleted. According to recent studies, 20% of nurse leaders, and 22% of front-line nurses plan to leave the profession. We do not have a strong pipeline to replace them. Health systems are competing for nurses with temporary staffing agencies that have driven rates up to unsustainable levels.

To address these shortages at our facilities, Trinity Health has moved staff from ambulatory care settings to acute care; created a mobile workforce through our FirstChoice national traveler program to redeploy colleagues across the country; created flexible and per-diem shifts for recently retired, nursing students and others; provided incentives to our colleagues; brought in outside contract labor; invested in workforce training programs; and leveraged telehealth and virtual care modalities. However, these measures cannot sufficiently address the crisis we currently face.

We need action from Congress and the Biden Administration now. That's why I sent a letter to congressional committee leaders requesting that incentives to keep health care workers on the front lines throughout the remainder of this public health emergency be included in legislation currently under development and I look forward to ongoing discussion around workforce policy solutions.