|
One
of the largest problems in government is a
tendency to study problems to death while things
get worse. Name a recent year in Virginia and
there is a tax commission or transportation study
group with recommendations sitting on a shelf.
Another problem is the attempt to shove challenges
to a different level of government rather than
tackle solutions straight up. Try to follow the
bouncing ball among federal, state and local
governments on education funding, standards and
quality, for example, or on water policy and the
Chesapeake Bay.
But
correcting chronic shortages of nurses and allied
health professionals (health information
technologist, physical therapists, diagnostic
imaging specialists, respiratory therapists, etc.)
at a time when both the general population and
numbers of aging citizens demanding care are
exploding just can’t wait for more study or
jurisdictional jockeying. New training facilities,
faculty and enrollments to secure professional
credentials take time. New healthcare workers need
to build strong foundations in math and science
before specialized training can begin.
That’s
what makes the NoVaHealthFORCE action agenda
announced in late June both unique and a possible
model for successful initiatives in other regions
of Virginia. An alliance of hospitals, businesses,
the community college, a university and the
regional workforce investment board in the
Commonwealth’s most prosperous region documented
the need for health care workers, set out a
strategy and detailed specific actions for
stakeholders, including state government, higher
education and the private sector. The
prescription? Change!
“The
shortage of health care workers is a major problem
in virtually every community, often at crisis
level, usually growing, and very often ignored,”
notes Dr. Robert Templin, president of Northern
Virginia Community College (NVCC) and the chairman
of the alliance.
The
Northern Virginia Health Care Workforce Alliance
identified a critical shortage of health care
professionals in Northern Virginia right now.
The region is 2,800 health workers short in 24 job
categories. About one health care job out of eight
is unfilled now. Circumstances left unchanged
would see that shortage explode to more than
16,000 unfilled health care jobs in the region by
2020. The alliance documented the need with a
definitive qualitative analysis conducted by
PricewaterhouseCoopers and financed by five
hospitals, NVCC and others.
In
Dr. Templin’s words, “Future needs may not be
served due to the simple fact that there are too
few people to provide health services.”
Alliance
steering committee member Doug Poretz of Qorvis
Communications calls the findings “the perfect
storm of demographics.” A rock bottom current
unemployment rate of two percent, projected 33
percent growth in Northern Virginia’s population
by 2020, accelerating growth in retiring baby
boomers who could demand six times the number of
inpatient days as the average citizen, and
retirements of current health care workers all
converge. Similar storms rage in every other
region of the Commonwealth, too, which is why
healthcare workforce should be on the list of
debate topics for Virginia political candidates in
2005.
Gov.
Mark R. Warner immediately called the work
“outstanding” and said he looked forward to
discussing the findings and recommendations of the
alliance. But the fact is that NoVaHealthFORCE is
already past the general discussion stage. The
alliance outlined a long-term, business-driven,
sustainable strategy to close healthcare worker
gaps that, not incidentally, also would tap New
Americans and underemployed workers for new
careers.
The
plan strives to retain more existing workers in
the region, increase the region’s nursing
graduates by 80 percent and allied health
graduates by 50 percent and distribute more
healthcare workers to the faster-growing southern
and western edges of Northern Virginia.
Eight
workgroups of the alliance already have worked
with experts in health care, higher education,
public schools, local governments, social service
agencies, civic groups, technology businesses and
others to formulate a detailed action agenda.
First up are directions for additional public and
private investments in everything from salary
increases to retain health professions faculty to
“fast track” educational pathways to expand
education facilities.
Why?
Northern Virginia already captures the 440 nurse
graduates it turns out each year, for example, yet
a shortage of over 1,000 exists now and one out of
every 30 nurses retires annually. Numbers of nurse
and allied health graduates need to increase by
600 or more each year, but George Mason University
and NVCC don’t have the capacity now to meet
that demand. A new joint training center in
Loudoun or Prince William County would help. So
will a commitment by alliance members to raise
$3.3 million over four years to fund scholarships,
faculty endowments, outreach programs and facility
feasibility studies.
Outreach
programs for students at secondary and middle
schools are to build interest in healthcare
careers while there is still time for students to
get the basics they need and a chance to try
things out. The superintendent of the Fairfax
County Public Schools, for example, is inviting
other area superintendents to discuss one or more
magnet high schools in health care and life
sciences. A new center for healthcare technology
and electronic medical records would help. The
regional technology council is looking to convene
a healthcare and technology summit, identify
advanced technology solutions and help define jobs
of the future from health information technologist
to pharmacogenetics counselor -- an expert who
could provide guidance for treatment based on an
individual patient’s genetic profile. Call him
the Gene Pool Boy for short.
“Our
goal is to solve Northern Virginia’s critical
health care workforce shortage and become a model
for other communities large and small, Dr. Templin
suggests. “Everyone can win. Industry gets
workers. Businesses get a tool that will help
control healthcare costs. People get better access
to better care. Workers and potential new workers
get the opportunity to participate in careers with
a bright future.”
But
high on the list of priorities is a more general
objective, continuing a truly collaborative effort
among regional businesses and groups on a problem
that affects all components of community life. As
syndicated columnist Neal Pierce has pointed out
time and again, communities that work together to
solve problems share one great characteristic --
the determination to work together. If Northern
Virginia can hold a community focus that cuts
across counties, cities, institutions, companies,
consumers and workers, it will have an alliance
for the future with the power to improve far more
than just health care.
In
the meantime, may the www.NoVaHealthFORCE.com be
with you.
--
July 11, 2005
|
