Thank you.
As to absentee ballots in its final session day, the state senate declined to take up
the bill allowing clerks to get a head start on counting them the day before election day.
The senate majority also rejected eight more of Governor Tony Evers' nominees for appointment
to boards and commissions, including two on the UW Board of Regents.
In other business, Evers once again urged the legislature to release $15 million to help
support health care with the coming closure of hospitals in Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls.
Closures the Wisconsin Hospital Association calls unthinkable, but part of feared results
from staff shortages and financial pressures.
The association is just out with its 2024 Wisconsin Health Care Workforce Report, which describes
a critical condition.
Anne Zank from the Wisconsin Hospital Association joins us now.
Thanks very much for being here.
Thanks for having me.
So in what hospital positions are the shortages most acute?
I think the biggest impact right now because there's such a large part of our workforce
is the registered nurse shortage.
And so what happens for the day-to-day care of patients when a hospital is short of those
nurses?
For nursing, registered nurses can fill lots of roles on health care teams.
So a shortage leaves lots of gaps.
That might mean staff working in roles besides the ones they normally do.
It might mean they have to work in different areas.
They're certainly being asked to work extra shifts or different shifts.
And does that affect patient care?
We hope not, right?
Because they're trying to do everything they can do to fill.
But what about patient care?
You're exactly right.
Health care professionals and hospitals, it's our job to make sure patients get the care
they need.
But when there are staff shortages or interruptions in the continuum of care, patients wait longer.
They might have to travel farther for care.
They might even end up coming to the emergency department.
Why hasn't the staffing situation righted itself following COVID?
There's so many factors.
I'd say the predominant one.
And unfortunately, one that we really can't influence much is what we call the silver
tsunami, the surges of retirements as baby boomers age.
That's a big generation.
The other issue for health care is that not only is there available workforce shrinking,
but health care demand is escalating.
That's right.
So as far as that silver tsunami as you refer to it, how likely is it that programs producing
a school to nursing pipeline and career advancement can keep pace with those retirements?
Because I know some of those programs are now really cranking up.
For shorter term credentials, those frontline technical positions that take a year or two
to achieve, we might be able to close those gaps.
For longer term credentials like nurses and physicians, we just can't keep pace with
the increased health care demand.
There's lots of baby boom nurses from the 70s and 80s who are now going to retire.
So it's kind of unlikely that our workforce can grow fast enough.
You spoke to this as well, but all of this is happening in a state, Wisconsin, that's
ranked as having an older population.
And so this older population needs more care further squeezing this whole situation.
Correct.
What we're also seeing in hospitals and health systems is a payer shift.
The insurance patients have.
Their payer is changing.
As we age, we shift from private insurance to Medicare.
And sometimes as our resources shrink, even to Medicaid, and we know that Medicare and
Medicaid rates don't cover the full cost of care.
So this is happening across the state.
Of course, it's acutely felt right now in kind of the northwest part of the state with
the closure of 19 clinics and two hospitals, one in Eau Claire, one in Chippewa Falls.
What is your reaction to the closure of those facilities?
Well, you said it unthinkable, right?
But it's also a signal of what's going on in hospitals, not just in Wisconsin, but
across the state.
It's a cascade of things.
It's workforce shortages, increased labor costs, increased supply costs.
But when you reach that breaking point or the combination of factors is when your volumes
start to shift, when you have fewer impatience, take care of when you're getting less reimbursement
because your services, you can offer a shrinking.
That can be the breaking point for hospital closure.
But we're also seeing it in service closures across the state.
So very, very briefly, you say that there are signs of hope?
Yes, absolutely.
Hospitals are having to rely less on temporary agency staff.
That left during the pandemic are coming back.
We're seeing that.
That's great.
We're also seeing for the first time since before the pandemic, enrollments increase
in health care programs.
And that's awesome.
We'll be looking to next year's report to see the signs of improvement.
And Zang, thanks very much.
Thank you.
That's right.
That's right.
I didn't want to leave it with people going, what?
Oh, no.
This is cool.
Thank you.
Yep.
Good.
All right.
Well, we can get you unstrung from that microphone now.
Oh, my goodness.