New Mich. Coalition Pushes for Healthcare Staffing Help

Detroit Free Press

A newly created health care coalition announced Thursday it is seeking a $650 million bailout to manage an unprecedented health care staffing shortage hitting Michigan's hospitals, nursing homes and emergency medical service providers hard.

The Healthcare Workforce Sustainability Alliance called on the Michigan Legislature to approve a $650 million supplemental appropriation to recruit health care workers and pay for a scholarship program to establish a workforce pipeline.

The taxpayer dollars also would be aimed at retention of current workers, and would include direct payments to those who continue to work on the front lines.

Details about exactly how the $650 million would be spent were not disclosed Thursday, and it's unclear how much would go to scholarships and how much to direct payments to health care workers, many of whom say they are burned out and feel underappreciated and underpaid after working nearly two years through the pandemic.

"Details are... going to be worked out going forward," said Ruthanne Sudderth, vice president of public affairs for the Michigan Health & Hospital Association, which is part of the new alliance along with the Health Care Association of Michigan, the Michigan Association of Ambulance Services and the Michigan Community College Association.

"We want to maintain some flexibility at this point as we work with the Legislature on what this program ultimately looks like and where the greatest needs are."

Brian Peters, CEO of the MHA, called the $650 million appropriation a "unique opportunity" for Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the state Legislature to support the critical health care workforce.

"There are certainly a lot of other asks that are coming their way," Peters said. "We understand that but if you don't have a robust and functional health care ecosystem in a community or in a state, it's really going to create difficulty in achieving any of your other objectives in terms of economic vibrancy and the like.

"While lawmakers and the governor already completed work on this state budget for next year, they are still discussing how to use billions in federal COVID-19 relief funding. In theory, the money can be allocated to any number of areas affected by the pandemic."

Peters said in his 30 years of working in health care "I've never seen anything like the workforce sustainability challenge that is with us today."

It has led to hospital beds being taken offline, surgeries being delayed, transport problems because of a lack of paramedics and emergency medical technicians, and more, said  Sudderth.

The staffing crisis has devastated the state's long-term care facilities as well, said Melissa Samuel, president and CEO of the Health Care Association of Michigan.

"Michigan's nursing facilities have lost 17% of the workforce," she said. "Nearly 11,000 employees and 85% of our facilities have had to limit or halt new admissions due to staffing shortages. Nearly half of our state's nursing facilities have closed units or beds due to staffing shortages."

Peters acknowledged "there is no silver bullet" solution, but using taxpayer dollars to recruit and train new workers as quickly as possible, and to retain the workforce in place, would help.

The alliance proposed a Future Healthcare Heroes Scholarship Program, which would provide up to two years of scholarship money to people who are seeking degrees and certifications in the health care field at qualifying community colleges or universities.

It estimates as many as 25,000 students would qualify for the program if the funding is approved.

"Many of those programs are offered at a community college but this would include up to a master's program at our university partners," said Michael Hansen, president of the Michigan Community College Association.

Some, he said, are short-term credential programs and certifications, which "are critical to filling needs like lab techs, phlebotomists, and other health care services in both hospitals and clinics."

Angela Madden, executive director of the Michigan Association of Ambulance Services, said the scholarship program would be a "game-changer" for emergency medical service providers.

The Free Press asked spokesmen for the chairmen of the state House and Senate appropriations committees for comment on the health care coalition's request, but  received no response Thursday.

"We are pleading with our Legislature to fund a future for the healthcare workforce that will help ensure lifesaving services are able to continue across our state," Peters said.