Challenges with staffing

Reports about healthcare staffing shortages have been in the news, and Kaiser Health News discussed some challenges facing some hospitals in Montana (likely representative of a number of hospitals around the country). As with other industries, healthcare providers have been hit with inflation. However, growth in payroll costs for healthcare providers have likely exceeded similar growth for other industries, at least in part due to the amount of training that a person becoming a nurse or a physician requires. Compounding the challenge is that hospitals traditionally operate with thin margins, making the variability over the pandemic that much more difficult to manage. While many hospitals received federal funding during the pandemic, such additional funding has understandably tapered.

Undoubtedly, healthcare institutions will be negotiating for higher compensation. The longer-term solution for these challenges is unclear, but simply giving healthcare institutions more money likely is not a sustainable solution, given that health care already consumes over a sixth of the nations' economy.