Nursing Shortages Will Cost Hospitals Money

Bureau of Labor Statistics says hospitals will be feeling the financial burden of a Nursing Shortage, estimated to continue into 2025. Although there has been an upswing in nursing students, they will not be ready to enter the workforce for a few years to meet the rising demands of healthcare’s current needs.

According to a report from Moody’s, the average annual revenue growth between 2012 and 2016 totaled 5.7%, which exceeded the salaries and benefits expense growth of 5.5%. The numbers did not include recruitment expenses.

“Salaries and benefits have risen for a variety of reasons, one is that hospitals are becoming more aggressive in adding physicians, another is the nursing shortage,” said Bob Joyce, U.S. Bank’s senior vice president and group head of healthcare and food industries. “All of that is putting pressure on the expense side.”

On top of the shortage, numerous lawsuits have been filed against hospitals in recent years, claiming compromised safety with a short nursing staff.

“We need to find ways to make nursing attractive to young people with getting paid quicker and a better recruitment process,” Assaf Shalvi, CEO and founder of Swift Shift, a recruiting process software for home health clinicians. “That is the only way you are going to solve the shortage.”^[1]

^[1] http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20180307/NEWS/180309921