Medical staffs in urgent need

For two years, doctors, nurses, radiologists, technicians, certified nursing assistants and other medical personnel have seen and treated the horrors of a deadly pandemic.

Some have had enough and have moved on — to other jobs, or to retirement. Those who remain are finding themselves stretched, as many nursing homes and hospitals suffer from significant staffing shortages.

Health care staffing concerns predate the pandemic, but COVID-19 has exposed and exacerbated many of the system's troubles. The shortage grew even more worrisome in the last month, due to the rapidly spreading omicron variant, although officials say that crunch is slowly beginning to ease.

Elected officials have stepped up. President Joe Biden is sending military medical personnel to overwhelmed New York hospitals. Gov. Kathy Hochul promises to increase health care payrolls by 20% and plans to inject $10 billion into the health care industry, including more than $4 billion for wages and bonuses — an investment that's desperately needed as long as it's done right. In New York City, Mayor Eric Adams is adding cash, too, some of which will be available as loans to hospitals in need.

But those moves alone won't solve the industry's systemic, structural and longer-term issues, especially if the funds are one-shots.

And a one-size-fits-all solution won't work, either. The extent of the problem varies widely from region to region and facility to facility. And it highlights enormous health care disparities we still have to solve.

While Hochul has tried to target some of her efforts to ease the pain, like suspending elective surgeries in certain facilities, it would behoove her administration to better understand the nuances of each nursing home's and hospital's needs and to quickly gather updated, meaningful data.

With a better grasp on the problem, officials can then try to address it, in big and small ways, in the short and long term. That could include a broader sharing of resources and the development of a stronger bench of reserve personnel. Northwell Health, for instance, has its own pool of extra workers, called FlexStaff, that it uses when necessary. Could the state lead in the creation of such a system on a broader basis to provide resources where needed?

Also key: Finding better ways to recruit, train and provide incentives, especially for those who work in long-term care, and re-examining regulations and reporting requirements, to ease the burden on existing nurses and other staff. Then there's the biggest issue many health care executives cite: the need to revisit the state's Medicaid reimbursement rates, which haven't kept up with increasing costs and translate into wages that don't compete with other industries.

COVID has led officials to focus — finally — on the health care industry and its entrenched staffing problems. This is a chance to find new ways to be flexible, innovative and thoughtful.

The problems aren't small. The answers can't be, either.