The group Governor Tony Evers previewed in his 2024 State of the State Health Care address last week is now official. On Jan. 29, Evers signed
Executive Order #220 to create the Governor’s Task Force on the Healthcare Workforce.
The executive order acknowledges the demographic challenges all employers face and the
additional challenge health care faces: increasing health care demand that’s part of the aging of the very large baby boom generation. All industries, including health care, are struggling with the Silver Tsunami, waves of baby boom retirements, but health care demand will continue to increase for decades after the Silver Tsunami subsides for other industries. Gov. Evers’ proclamation notes the impact of “an aging population that is both retiring and requiring additional medical care.”
WHA and WHA members have been working for the past decade or longer to grow the health care workforce faster, to best utilize the health care workforce we have, and to recruit, protect and retain health care workers; all to prepare for the Silver Tsunami that is now here.
The Governor’s Task Force on Healthcare Workforce is charged with recommending solutions in line with WHA recommendations, including, as noted in the governor’s
2024 State of the State address, identifying strategies to alleviate the burden on our health care workforce through innovations in technology and alternative methods of care, and exploring educational pathways to grow a more sustainable health care workforce.
Lieutenant Governor Sara Rodriguez, a registered nurse with master’s degrees in nursing and public health, will chair the task force. Rodriguez traveled across the state this week meeting with hospital teams at Beloit Health System, Sauk Prairie Healthcare in Prairie du Sac, SSM St. Mary’s in Janesville and Froedtert Holy Family Memorial in Manitowoc.
Hospital leaders had the opportunity to discuss with Lt. Gov. Rodriguez the workforce and financial challenges they and their teams increasingly face. With her past experience as an emergency department RN, Rodriguez was heavily recruited as she toured busy hospital EDs and inpatient units.
Rodriguez shared the aims of the task force with leaders during roundtables and with health care teams during tours. “What we really wanted to do was to make sure we were getting information from different sectors within health care,” Rodriguez noted. “Because we know, and we heard today, that there are issues within nursing but also issues with surgical technologists, radiology and other professions.”