Montana’s Healthcare Workforce Strategic Plan—
Building the pipeline for tomorrow’s healthcare professionals
Healthcare Workforce Issues in Montana…
The need for a well-educated and trained workforce in Montana is projected to increase significantlyin upcoming years: from 56,160 healthcare professional, technical and support jobs in 2010 to 68,290 jobs in 2020. Healthcare employment is projected to grow by 22 percent during this 10 year time period, compared to 16 percent growth for all other state jobs. Job projections include 11,710openings for healthcare professional and technical occupations, and 7,230 openings for healthcare support occupations—a total of 18,940 job opening between 2010 and 2020.[1]
Additional healthcare employment projections from the Center for Health Workforce Studies estimate that nearly one in nine jobs in the US will be in the health sector by 2020. Physician offices are projected to add nearly 760,000 jobs nationally, while 1.2 million new RNs are going to be needed to fill new and existing jobs. Overall, nearly 7.5 million health workers will be needed across the nation to fill new jobs and to replace workers who are leaving their jobs (between 2010 and 2020).[2]
The Montana population isone of the fastest growing aging populations in the country: in 2000, Montana ranked 14th oldest in the nation, but by 2025, it is projected to rank no less than 5th. About 25 percentof the Montana population is expected to be 65 years or older by 2025.[3] An agingpopulation utilizesmore healthcare resources—for example: people age 65 and older make up about 12 percent of the population, but they utilize about 26 percent of physician office visits, 35 percent of hospital stays, 34 percent of prescriptions, 38 percent of emergency medical responses and 90 percent of nursing home use.[4] Additionally, the healthcareworkforce is aging: nearly 23 percent of physicians in the state are over the age of 60 and likely to retire within five years, while nearly 37 percent of dentists in Montana are at or near retirement age.
How Do We Move Forward…
The Montana Healthcare Workforce Advisory Committee (MHWAC) was initiated to address the future healthcare needs of Montana’s population. Working with the Montana Office of Rural Health, Area Health Education Center and the Montana Department of Labor and Industry, the MHWAC compiled data on the state of the healthcare workforce, and developed a plan for the future with input and advice from stakeholders across the state. The Montana Healthcare Workforce Statewide Strategic Plan was released in November, 2011. The Plan is being used by state agencies, education institutions, healthcare
organizations and public policy groups, and has received national recognition by the National Governor’s Association as a Best Practice.
Key Strategies…
Engaging Montanans in understanding and addressing the State’s healthcare workforce needs—
A focal point in the plan is to engage Montanans in understanding and supporting local, regional and statewide healthcare workforce efforts. We must improve the capacity to analyze the State’s healthcare workforce, target funding to high priority education and training needs, and create partnerships to leverage resources.
Educating and training Montana’s healthcare workforce –
“Growing your own” is a strategy for creating a Montana healthcare workforce that will continue to live in and serve rural communities. Encouraging young people to excel in math and science, explore healthcare careers, enter Montana health professions education, and receive clinical education in rural communities pays off in future physicians, nurses and allied health professionals. Our post-secondary health professions programs must be supported through adequate funding, faculty development, development of clinical sites, increased classroom resources, development of partnerships with healthcare organizations and outreach to rural and underserved areas. We must provide training and education in frontier, rural and underserved communities, including the WWAMI Targeted Rural Underserved Program (TRUST), and programs to support rural nursing. Montana is 50th in the country in Graduate Medical Education programs (physician residencies) slots.
Recruiting health professionals to Montana’s Health Professions Shortage Areas—
Recruiting health professionals is best accomplished through a coordinated partnership approach. The plan addresses the need to provide experience in rural and underserved settings for health professions students, financial incentives for practice in rural and underserved areas, and support for Montana Connections (healthcare professionals recruitment program).
Retaining a skilled healthcare workforce—
The plan outlines strategies to retain a skilled workforce by reducing professional isolation, developing career ladder and skill development programs, and strengthening leadership and quality in healthcare settings. An example is the MT Center to Advance Health through Nursing, which recently received funding through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Priorities of the Montana Healthcare Workforce Advisory Committee and Strategic Plan
- Increase capacity to analyze the state’s workforce with collection of high quality data.
- Expand the Primary Care workforce, which includes physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants.
- Prepare and recruit professionals for new models of healthcare delivery that support cost effective care coordination in community based settings. Patient Centered Medical Homes, Accountable Care Organizations and Care Coordination Models will need community health workers, care coordinators, and expanded use of pharmacists and advanced practice nurses.
- Support career-pathway development in collaboration with the State Workforce Investment Board and Department of Labor programs.
- Develop recruitment and retention tools for allied health professions,including loan forgiveness programs.
Montana Healthcare Workforce Statewide Strategic Plan—access it online at:
[1]Healthcare: State Level Analysis. Projections of Job Openings, 2010-2020. June 2012. Center on Education and the Workforce, Georgetown University.
[2]Health Care Employment Projections: An Analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Projections 2010-2020. March 2012. The Center for Health Workforce Studies, State University of New York.
[3]Montana State Plan on Aging for October 1, 2011 to September 20, 2015. Department of Public Health and Human Services, Senior and Long Term Care Division, Aging Services Bureau.
[4]The Rising Health Care Needs of Aging Baby Boomers. Top Ten Reviews (sources from the Institute of Medicine, US Census, CommonwealthFund, US Bureau of Labor Statistics).