CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Hospital workers in West Virginia still face a big challenge: having enough staff to take care of patients at facilities statewide.
Melanie Dempsey, vice president of the West Virginia Hospital Association, said as they work to maintain the level of care for patients with an ongoing nursing shortage, there are still gaps in the system a year after the release of the 2023 Healthcare Workforce Report.
The report showed more than 49,000 caregivers are employed by West Virginia hospitals. Declining college enrollment, increased burnout, an aging workforce with less people entering healthcare fields overall, and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have all contributed to the problem.
Dempsey said patient care is impacted when there are fewer workers.
“What you see that translate to is hospitals will have to scale back how many patients they have in house. They may have to scale back some of the services we offer, and we never have to do that,” she said during an appearance last week on MetroNews “Talkline.”
Another major issue is the significantly less pay West Virginia hospital workers get compared to nearby states. Dempsey said there’s also a misconception about qualifications to become a hospital employee. She said you don’t need a four-year college degree.
“You can go to school in a relatively short period of time and obtain your LPM license. You can go to school to be rad tech, a phlebotomist, a med tech, lots of other opportunities,” Dempsey said.
West Virginia is seeing a lot of hospital consolidation among WVU Medicine, Mon Health, CAMC and Vandalia Health. Dempsey said consolidation is not a bad thing. She said they’re still working to treat patients the same way by saving money.
“Health care is important to provide. We are a very heavily regulated industry and there are lots of requirements that you have to have a lot of knowledge about to be able to get all of those components to provide good care and stay viable. Sometimes you have to combine to ensure that care is available,” Dempsey said.
Dempsey said healthcare insurance can be complicated, but she encourages patients to know what their insurance pays for to avoid any future headaches.
“It’s important for a patient to take charge of that also and be educated and understand what they’re going to be charged for because we never want a patient to shy away from obtaining their care or having necessary tests or preventative care because they’re worried what it might cost them,” she said.
According to the study, West Virginia hospitals spend an estimated $97 million to help cover the cost of vacancies, including recruiting and retaining medical staff.