LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — It's no secret that thousands of people move to Nevada every year and our population keeps growing. With so many people choosing the Silver State as their new home, state officials are looking for ways to address ongoing health care shortages.
In 2019, the Nevada Legislature created the Patient Protection Commission to review issues related to health care needs across the state. On Friday, Gov. Joe Lombardo signed an executive order to expand the commission's ability to review and make recommendations on how to address the state's health care workforce shortage.
According to the Executive Order, the PPC will now "work to address current challenges with building an adequate health care workforce to care for residents."
The order says some of the areas the Commission will focus on include:
- Attracting and retaining talent to address health care workforce challenges in urban and rural communities
- Improving access to primary care and public health services
- Removing unnecessary state administration hurdles to recruiting and retaining health care workers
- Identifying sustainable funding strategies, which includes supporting competitive Medicaid reimbursements
- Ensuring recommended strategies for increasing provider reimbursement are based on payment methodologies that incentivize and reward for better quality and value for the taxpayer dollar
- Identifying strategies for evaluating new and existing state investments in efforts to improve the capacity and size of the state's health care workforce
According to a 2023 study by the Nevada Health Workforce Research Center, 69.7% of the state's population lives in a federally-designated primary medical care health professional shortage area or HPSA. When looking at Clark County specifically, the study states there are shortages in 64 out of 89 health care occupations. The three top fields include shortages include pediatricians, psychiatrists, and community health workers.
To make up shortages in the state and reach national per capita averages, researchers said Nevada would need an additional:
- 255 family medicine physicians
- 626 nurse practitioners
- 3,162 registered nurses
- 14,550 home health and personal care aides
- 5,055 nursing assistants
- 591 radiologic technologists and technicians
- 9,773 workers in ambulatory care industry
- 13,057 workers in hospitals
- 13,620 workers in nursing and residential care facilities
- 15,173 workers in social assistance service
- 1,483 workers in physician offices
- 1,694 workers in outpatient mental health and substance abuse centers
Channel 13 is continuing to follow health care shortages in the valley as well as local organizations that are trying to help. You can read more below.
