Across Alabama, thousands of healthcare positions remain vacant. However, state hospitals are now offering several monetary incentives to retain and hire workers.
The Alabama Hospital Association reports that financial incentives vary from hospital to hospital. Some facilities increase base salaries or pick up employees’ ongoing student loans and school costs to hold onto existing employees. Others offer sign-on bonuses to attract new workers.
AHA President Don Williamson said these incentives give Alabama hospitals an edge over facilities across the country.
“These incentives unfortunately are necessary because in order to compete with another hospital in Alabama or to compete increasingly with hospitals out of the state, you have to pay a competitive wage,” he said. “Individuals have opportunities.”
The Alabama Hospital Association released a financial report on hospitals in February that showed similar findings. Personnel costs increased $1.4 billion between 2019 and 2022. Some $300 million was directed toward paying contract or travel employees. More than $1 billion was directed toward paying existing hospital employees.
Williamson said if these incentives are effective, it could mean less time spent in healthcare facilities.
“If we’re successful, we will end up beginning to close some of the worker shortages,” he said. “We’re not going to do it overnight, but we will be able to open up beds that are currently closed in our hospitals [and] get people admitted more quickly.”
However, increasing financial incentives for new and existing hospital staff is not all good news. Williamson explained increased labor costs could keep many hospitals in the red.
“The challenge that we face is that the individuals who pay for the care of patients have not increased their reimbursement rates,” he said. “What we're worried about is that the financial challenges that hospitals faced in 2022 are going to be exacerbated in 2023 because there's not going to be any new federal grant dollars.”
Williamson also reported almost every job position is seeking new employees from nurses and patient transporters to respiratory and radiation therapists.
