The Impact of Workforce Shortages on Cost & Access to Care
This workforce crunch is creating mounting challenges both for hospitals and patients. The demand for traveling nurse from 3rd
-party staffing agencies saw costs spike from $80/hr in mid 2021 to more than $200/hr later that year. While demand has leveled off recently, historic levels of inflation are having a growing impact on wages and salaries.
In addition to this fiscal impact, hospitals and health systems are continuing to play catchup to demand for services. Wisconsin’s hospitals and health systems did their best to minimize service disruptions during delta and omicron COVID surges, but the overloading demand for COVID care once again led to postponement of essential surgeries, planned procedures, and preventative care. Having ample surgeons and specialists has always been a challenge, but care is increasingly constrained by the lack of surgical techs to assist with surgeries, for instance, or even cleaning staff to turn over patient rooms.
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