Workforce

Issues

About Workforce

The shortage of health care professionals in California is deepening every year and affects every aspect of care. Statewide, more than 11 million people live in an area without enough primary care providers, and according to a UC San Francisco study of the state’s nursing shortage, it will take until 2026 to close the state’s current nursing gap. All told, California needs to add 500,000 new allied health care professionals by 2024 in order to provide needed care. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated health care staffing shortages. Many front-line health care workers have reached their breaking point and are choosing to leave the profession altogether (hundreds of thousands of health care jobs have been lost since the pandemic began).

Rural and low-income communities are disproportionately affected by the scarcity — and there’s a second disparate impact we must address as the state works to rebuild a depleted workforce: According to the California Future Health Workforce Commission, people of color will be a majority of Californians by 2030 but are severely underrepresented in the health care workforce.

Each year hospitals invest millions of dollars in training California’s next generation of health care providers, but closing the massive gaps ahead will require additional long- and short-term solutions:

  • Partnerships among all who recognize the need to protect the health of Californians: employers, workers, policymakers, colleges, licensing entities, and others
  • Public investments in workforce training through college and university programs to both retain current workers and build a pipeline of future professionals
  • Regulatory changes to improve efficiency and transparency in licensing, address limitations on scope of practice, and enhance education and training for nurses and nurse assistants

Revised State Budget Proposes Important Health Care Investments but Does Not Address Hospitals’ Inflationary Challenges

On May 13, Gov. Newsom released the May Revision with modifications to the proposed state budget he first presented in January. Tax revenue estimates have surged by $55 billion since the governor’s January budget proposal, creating a discretionary budgetary surplus of $49 billion and allowing the state to make new investments beyond what was proposed […]

Bringing the Hospital Voice to Washington

It’s been more than two years since the American Hospital Association held its annual meeting in Washington, D.C. — and this past week presented an important opportunity for hospital leaders from across the country to connect with one another and to personally deliver vital messages to policymakers at the highest levels of our nation’s government.  […]

The Middle Innings of the Legislative Cycle

If California’s legislative session — which runs from January through the end of September — can be looked at as a nine-inning baseball game, we’re just weeks away from the middle three innings. That means legislative priorities are coming into sharper focus and strategy is beginning to turn to tactics.