“You had frontline caregivers who were in an extraordinarily stressful environment,” Peters said. “The situation just put them over the edge in terms of ‘let’s escalate those retirement plans and maybe do that a bit earlier than originally planned.”
Peters said he’s been hearing anecdotally from MHA member hospitals that the situation has been stabilizing in 2023 as the pandemic wanes, although “we’re not out of the woods yet by any means.”
A March member survey that the MHA conducted indicated that hospitals across the state had 27,000 open positions to fill, including nearly 8,500 nursing jobs, 4,500 technician roles, and 3,000 positions for clinical assistants.
“Our hospitals are trying to fill those slots and many of those are nursing. So, that opportunity to bring more people into health care, it’s there today, and it’s going to increase going forward,” Peters said. “We’re an economic engine that hires a lot of people and we need even more based on the environment that we’re experiencing right now.”
The staffing shortage has led to longer wait times in ERs or to providers transferring patients to other care settings, he said.
The loss of health care workers also has affected physician practices.
The Michigan State Medical Society reports that nearly nine out of 10 participating physician practices surveyed reported a decline in clinical and administrative staff since the pandemic began, including physician assistants, nurse practitioners, registered nurses and medical assistants. Nearly seven in 10 practices told the Medical Society that staffing shortages increased wait times for patients seeking appointments, and more than half were forced to reduce hours or available appointments.
To retain and attract staff, many health systems raised wages and salaries and paid out hiring and retention bonuses. That contributed to direct wages increasing 4% from one year to the next, while rising 6.8% at hospitals alone.
Nursing homes and long-term care centers have faced a similar trend, as the number of jobs declined while overall compensation paid held steady, Peters said.
A 2022 analysis the MHA conducted found that Michigan hospitals spent $516 million for recruitment and retention bonuses in 2020 and 2021 and to pay for contact labor to fill staffing gaps. That included travel or temporary nursing agencies that, at times, were charging $200 to $250 an hour, Peters said. He heard of one hospital paying $300 an hour for temporary registered nurses for a month.
Contract labor prior to the pandemic accounted for a small percentage of hospitals’ workforce. That quickly went to a “very substantial percentage” in the pandemic, and the rates paid for temporary nurses “just went through the roof in very short order, and it stayed that way for a significant amount of time,” Peters said.
The situation in recent months has moderated, he added.
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