Premier Offers Senate Committee Solutions to Workplace Challenges

Premier provided feedback to the HELP Committee around pressing healthcare workforce issues and potential legislative solutions. In its response to the HELP Committee RFI, Premier underscored the reality of worker shortages and increased labor costs that healthcare providers are facing, sharing our past PINC AI™ analyses on the high turnover rates across clinical positions and increased labor costs of more than 16 percent since 2020.

Premier recommended a multi-pronged approach, and a mix of both near term and longer-term solutions. Our recommendations include:

• To address the new economic status quo of higher pay for clinical professions, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) needs better and more real-time data to calculate labor costs, including actual wages paid directly from hospitals for employed and contracted labor. With more accurate reimbursement, health systems will have funds to pay the market rates necessary to attract and retain talent.
• The nation needs to strengthen the physician training pipeline by providing additional support to existing federal programs that support graduate medical education. Additionally, we must create and support new educational opportunities for non-physician healthcare workers, both in clinical and technical roles.
• Addressing the rise in acts of violence and intimidation directed towards healthcare workers. Specifically, Premier encourages Congress to enact bipartisan legislation providing federal protections for healthcare workers who experience violence and intimidation in their workplace settings and grants to reduce incidences of violence.
• Premier encourages Congress to continue to examine ways that technology can reduce administrative burden and stress on providers to help alleviate burnout. For example, Premier supports requiring greater payer adoption of electronic prior authorization procedures.