As long-term care faces mounting workforce challenges, a North Carolina task force is recommending sweeping policy changes to support registered nurses and licensed practical nurses in the sector.
With the US population aging, workforce struggles ramping up and long-term care providers bracing to meet the heightened demands of a federal staffing mandate, several states have begun taking notice and exploring viable policy solutions.
One estimate of North Carolina’s workforce estimates that there will be a 27% shortfall of LPNs in all healthcare settings by the end of 2033. That shortage is expected to be almost twice as severe in long-term care, where the estimate is a shortfall of 49%.
The 140-page report from the North Carolina Institute of Medicine’s Task Force on the Future of the Nursing Workforce recommends eight broad goals to address the crisis, plus 25 more specific strategies meant to help achieve those goals in North Carolina. Many of the tactics could be employed elsewhere around the US.
Several key recommendations focused on building pipelines for nursing into the workforce, strengthening opportunities for career advancement and meeting the needs of nurses already in the sector to boost workplace conditions and retention.
The task force also called on the state government and insurance payers to invest additional funding into nurse education programs.
“The journey toward a more robust, representative, and well-supported nursing workforce in North Carolina is ongoing, requiring persistent advocacy, strategic investment, and a collective commitment to the principles of equity and excellence in nursing education and practice,” the report’s authors wrote. “The future of healthcare in North Carolina hinges on our ability to heed these recommendations, adapt to emerging challenges, and seize opportunities to elevate the nursing profession for the benefit of all its residents.”
A New Jersey task force released a similarly thorough report on senior care last week, recommending broad changes in care strategies and more support for long-term care in the future.
Other states have begun actively investing in worker pipelines for nursing homes — such as Texas, which implemented a free, virtual training program for certified nursing assistants this year that has already graduated more than 400 trainees.
At least one estimate says that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ staffing mandate will require more than 100,000 new nursing home CNAs and RNs nationally when all stages are in play.
