AHA shares workforce policy recommendations with Senate HELP Committee

Responding today to a Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee Request for Information on the drivers of health care workforce shortages and potential solutions, AHA said “long-building structural changes within the health care workforce, combined with the profound toll of the COVID-19 pandemic, have left hospitals and health systems facing a national staffing emergency.”     

To help recruit, revitalize and diversify the health care workforce, AHA recommends Congress invest in nursing education and faculty; provide scholarships and loan repayment; support apprenticeship programs; and reauthorize and increase funding for the National Health Service Corps. It also recommends actions to increase graduate medical education slots; support foreign-trained health care workers; increase workforce diversity; and investigate travel nurse agency practices.