As Wisconsin hospitals again began to experience an increasing number of COVID-19 patients adding to already-high censuses, WHA alerted Department of Safety and Professional Services (DSPS) Secretary Dawn Crim in an August 18, 2021,
letter of “workforce shortages that are increasing in intensity.” WHA requested “DSPS assistance in actively working to resolve any delay in licensure for health care professionals willing, able and very ready to work in Wisconsin.”
Secretary Crim’s quick
response indicated a willingness to work together and included a request for WHA and WHA members to assist in identifying applicants waiting for vital health care licenses. WHA reached out to its members, and they responded. On August 25, WHA began forwarding lists of applicants to DSPS. To date, 152 applicants have been identified, and 94 of these applicants have now been granted health care licensure.
This week, Secretary Crim announced in an
Oct. 13 news release a technological enhancement her agency is implementing to better utilize DSPS staff expertise by utilizing time-consuming manual document matching. DSPS is partnering with Google Cloud and MTX to implement the Maverick AI platform to automate certain data entry tasks.
DSPS has already kicked off this project, which is the first of a planned rollout to modernize DSPS’s licensing processes. DSPS has also embarked on a plan to break down barriers between the siloed software platforms in place, with health care licensure next on the docket.
As Gov. Tony Evers noted in the Oct. 13 release, “This is an investment in the people of Wisconsin who need their licenses to enter the workforce. Modernizing license application review will get folks on the job and earning paychecks more quickly.” For WHA members, streamlining licensure for health care professionals is an essential part of addressing growing workforce challenges.