Abstract
The AHA recognizes the urgency, severity and national scope of the health care workforce challenges facing the field — they are a national emergency that demand immediate attention from all levels of government, as well as workable solutions. We expect the Task Force’s work will uncover new areas in which financial support, regulatory flexibility and other policy solutions will advance workforce efforts, and we welcome ideas on those strategies. In the interim, the AHA has accelerated its existing calls for federal policymakers to support the health care workforce (see the Workforce Fact Sheet for an overview of many of our current priorities). We have urged policymakers and the Federal Trade Commission to address short-term challenges such as potential price gouging and other anti-competitive behavior on the part of nurse staffing agencies. We continue to advocate for short-term financial support to hospitals — such as adding additional money to the Provider Relief Fund, suspending the Medicare sequester, and providing repayment flexibility for accelerated and advance Medicare payments. These policies would help offset higher staffing and other costs attributable to the pandemic. We also have urged the Biden administration to extend the Public Health Emergency (PHE) and make permanent regulatory flexibilities granted during the pandemic that enable hospitals to more easily bring in practitioners from out-of-state, deliver services via telehealth and enable more innovative and flexible models of care (e.g., Hospitals at Home). Finally, we have been successful in urging the Administration to expedite visas to allow highly-trained foreign health care workers to come to the U.S. to help alleviate current shortages. With respect to the behavioral health of physicians, nurses and others, which is necessary so they can deliver safe and high-quality care, we were pleased to support passage of and funding for the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act. We have asked Congress to increase funding for the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Title VII and VIII programs, including the health professions program, the National Health Service Corps, and nursing workforce development programs, which includes loan programs for nursing faculty. Finally, we have urged policymakers to invest in the longer-term pathway of health care professionals by lifting the cap on Medicare-funded physician residencies, boosting funding to nursing schools and faculty, and funding federal loan forgiveness and scholarship programs. We have stressed that making these investments now is vital since their full benefit will take time to realize.
