The workforce shortage facing Rhode Island health-care providers worsened during the first half of 2001.
“Finances continue to be difficult because of the reimbursement situation, but the workforce shortage is a problem that has come up rather quickly and forcefully,” said Edward J. Quinlan, president of the Hospital Association of Rhode Island. “It’s the single biggest issue facing the industry.”
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The association reported last month that its 12 member hospitals were looking to fill 400 vacant, budgeted registered-nurse positions. But, in an interview last week, Quinlan said the number of RN vacancies at Rhode Island hospitals now is closer to 500.
While hospitals face the most severe shortage in terms of sheer numbers, the workforce problem is afflicting virtually every provider segment, including nursing homes, home-health providers and mental-health services.
This spring, the state’s Long-Term Care Coordinating Council reported that only about half of the roughly 27,000 certified nursing assistants that have received licenses in Rhode Island during the past decade are now employed at nursing homes. The employment turnover rate for CNAs in Rhode Island is 80 percent, according to the council.
Those glaring statistics have spawned efforts by state leaders to lure more nurses to the field and keep them there.
Lt. Gov. Charles J. Fogarty, chairman of the Long-Term Care Coordinating Council, has led the effort to create a nurse-reward program. Nurses would be able to apply for interest-free education loans under the plan.
Legislation was introduced in March and was in House committee as of last week. Fogarty spokeswoman Sue Pegden said she expects the bill to pass. Quinlan called the bill “a very positive first step” to help alleviate the nursing shortage.
Providers also are scrambling to fill other positions. There is a higher than average number of vacancies for therapists, X-ray technologists and billing coders at the state’s hospitals, Quinlan said.
The Lifespan system is looking to fill nearly 600 positions in Rhode Island, or about 6 percent of its workforce. The shortage prompted Lifespan to organize its first-ever career day last month, which resulted in more than 100 new hires, according to Lifespan spokeswoman Linda Shelton.
Although the workforce shortage looms large, health-care providers continue to clamor for better reimbursement rates from both public and private payers. Quinlan said Rhode Island’s Congressional delegation is backing legislation to restore some of the Medicare and Medicaid cuts made as a result of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997.
But providers in Rhode Island increasingly have focused on what they say are low reimbursement rates from health insurers. They point to a study released earlier this year by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, which shows that private health insurers only reimburse hospitals 92.4 percent of the costs of providing care – the lowest rate in the United States.
“We’re hopeful that the insurers come to the position that the health of our health-care delivery system depends on adequate reimbursement levels,” Quinlan said.
Also during the first six months of this year:
The Visiting Nurse Association of Rhode Island announced a major restructuring in May, laying off 129 workers. The state’s largest home-health agency had been losing about $400,000 a month. VNA-RI officials said the home-health provider will control costs and could break even by 2003 by cutting costs and moving away from managed-care contracts.
A task force appointed by Lt. Gov. Fogarty forged legislation that would expand insurance coverage for mental illnesses. The “mental-health parity” bill, passed both houses earlier this month and was awaiting Gov. Lincoln Almond’s signature as of last week.
A group of eight area teaching hospitals joined Brown Medical School in April to form the Rhode Island Academic Medicine Coalition. The coalition wants to boost funding for teaching hospitals by educating lawmakers and community leaders about the importance of academic medical centers.
In May, Lifespan announced a renewed effort to earn designation as a cancer center by the National Cancer Institute by creating the Comprehensive Cancer Center. The initiative links the efforts of medical oncologists, surgical oncologists, radiation therapists, social workers and other staff members at Rhode Island Hospital, The Miriam Hospital and Newport Hospital.
