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Rebecca Love: What would stabilize the nursing workforce crisis in healthcare

Photo taken from Rebecca Love/LinkedIn

Jan 27, 2024, 08:12

Rebecca Love: What would stabilize the nursing workforce crisis in healthcare

Rebecca Love, Commissioner at

“I am asked a lot of what would stabilize the nursing workforce crisis in healthcare – there are a lot of options – but the fastest and quickest way is to create a minimum/starting pay for CNAs, LPNs and RNs for hospitals and yes, nursing homes.

I know the knee jerk reaction to this post is going to be “this is crazy”…but hear me out:

CNAs $30/HR
LPN/LVN: $45/HR
RN/BSN: $65/HR

32 hour a week design allows for the following:

1. 32 hours a week allows for full-time benefits for workforce.
2. Design: 3 shifts a week: 2 – 12s/ 1 – 8.
3. If another 8 hour shift is needed per week – doesn’t trigger overtime to the facility (which is a huge expense currently to facilities).
4. Will bring back many who have left, preventing need for agency staff in healthcare (another huge cost to facilities) and these rates are already what many facilities pay (at or more than) for agency staff rates.
5. You will no longer have a floor that need to work “short” because you will have enough of a workforce to come in and cover these shifts – creating a safe environment to practice and stopping burnout of your nursing workforce.
6. Recruitment and retention sky rockets in health systems – leading to workforce stability and better patient outcomes and safety. The costs alone saved on turnover and recruitment would put millions back into annual budgets of hospitals, and tens of thousands for nursing homes annually.
7. A still financially viable model for tiered pay for nurses with experience due to the 32 hour week model, that could afford increased rates to commensurate with experience as currently designed in our capitated payment system for the nursing workforce.

The model, virtually eliminates costs for overtime, agency staff, recruitment and turnover costs, and will end burnout of the nursing workforce, creating a win-win scenario for all.

And it’s not another “technology SAAS based model” that just adds another tech resource and expense line – but actually goes to the PEOPLE who we need to deliver the care. And we need to stabilize the people before any more investment into technolgies that supposedly save the nursing workforce.

Results:

Nursing: More of the nursing workforce will return to healthcare for the schedule, benefits and livable wage.

Healthcare systems: The 32 hour work week design, saves money for health systems and stablizes the nursing workforce – and create a healthy operating budget for their system.

And the truth is – healthcare systems can 100% afford to do it this way.

But I’d love to hear your thoughts…I know money doesn’t solve it all, but money with smart design, can do a lot to solve the current crisis with the nursing workforce.”

Source: Rebecca Love/LinkedIn