2022 in Healthcare: 3 Trends for Hospitals

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reported that 1 in 4 hospitals experienced critical staff shortages in January. This labor strain is indicative of the healthcare labor trends projected for 2022, as many healthcare workers are quitting under the burden of burnout. In addition, hospitals must also contend with high labor costs due to a reliance on traveling nurse staff. As a result, increased labor union activity is also on the horizon for hospital systems, a continuation of planned and executed strikes from last year.

According to Hailey Mensik of Healthcare Dive, “ Those disputes centered around safer staffing measures, including nurse-to-patient ratios, stronger workplace safety protections and better wages to recruit and retain staff. It’s likely action from labor unions will continue with new COVID-19 variants and ongoing staffing shortages lending workers more leverage.”

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(Source: Healthcare Dive, January 27^th, 2022)