Health care access and service delivery in Maryland will continue to preoccupy lawmakers as priorities for the 2024 legislative session.
The Maryland Department of Legislative Services is forecasting additional legislative measures to address health care workforce issues across the state. The labor challenges are believed to be a significant issue impacting the delivery of health care in Maryland. Shortages have been observed throughout the health care industry, including in hospitals, nursing homes, and primary care settings, and within nearly every health care occupation.
The DLS assessment of challenges compounding the problem:
Workforce shortages continue to be a pervasive issue limiting access to health care in the State. While a variety of steps have been taken to address problems contributing to the shortage, regulatory changes, administrative difficulties, and other factors continue to impact the health care workforce.
The symptoms of the problem abound, from startling hospital wait times and six to eight month delays to see a primary care physician, to a complete lack of mental health care options, particularly those who take health insurance. Care standards and continuums are some of the most dire in Maryland compared to the rest of the country. Maryland Matters recently outlined the issue in an article quantifying some of the shortages.
From the Maryland Matters article:
Maryland is currently short 5,000 full-time registered nurses and 4,000 licensed practical nurses. If steps aren’t taken to lure new workers and reduce the number of nurses leaving the profession, the state could see shortages two or three times larger than current levels by 2035, according to the report.
As covered previously on the Conduit Street blog, policymakers have already begun putting building blocks in place to resolve some of the health care issues. Legislators passed a handful of bills in 2023, including a new law that went into effect to speed up the process that would allow qualified immigrants to apply for health care positions. In the meantime, counties have been stepping in to fill some of the gaps, particularly in Queen Anne’s, Montgomery and Frederick. The 2024 legislative session could be an obvious time to continue working towards additional solutions.
