States from Arizona to Maine are deploying billions of dollars in federal aid to hospitals in a desperate attempt to retain and recruit overworked health-care professionals facing the threat of yet another spike in Covid-19 cases, Bloomberg News reported. Pennsylvania hospitals are getting $210 million for bonuses or wage increases for front-line health-care workers. Texas approved $378 million to address “critical staffing needs” at nursing homes and home health agencies. Tennessee health-care facilities are receiving $120 million. And while hospital executives and workers say they’re grateful for the one-time infusion from President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan, many say long-term structural problems like low pay, difficult working conditions and nursing faculty shortages mean the effort is unlikely to succeed. “We’re all about more money for nurses,” said Wayne Reich, chief executive officer of the Pennsylvania State Nurses Association. “But really what we hope the hospitals use it for is to help correct the issues that are driving nurses out of the health-care system.” One telling piece of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects an annual average of 194,500 job openings for registered nurses from 2020 through 2030, as exhausted workers retire, change careers or find more-lucrative positions as contracted travel nurses. The Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated a health-care labor shortage that is driving up U.S. hospital costs, putting pressure on profits and even threatening to plunge some into bankruptcy. According to a study last year by recruiting and retention firm NSI Nursing Solutions, turnover costs hospitals an average of $40,038 per bedside registered nurse.
