Wisconsin faces shortage of health care workers, new report says

According to an annual report by the Wisconsin Hospital Association, the number of nurses and doctors in Wisconsin’s health care workforce has not kept up with the needs of residents, particularly as the number of people over 65 continues to increase. 

“Wisconsin hospitals are beginning to gain traction in filling job postings but remain challenged by a factor that is mostly immovable: the state’s changing demographics that are shrinking the available workforce and at the same time increasing health care demand,” Ann Zenk, senior vice president of Workforce and Clinical Practice at the Wisconsin Hospital Association, said in a statement.

The report found that the population of working-age residents, ages 20 to 64, began declining between 2010 and 2020. Wisconsin citizens born from 1946 to 1964 comprised just 18% of the population but 38% of hospital visits in 2023. 

In 2020, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals began to defer care at the request of U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, the report found, causing both hospital inpatient and outpatient numbers to fall. Adams requested that hospitals cancel or delay nonessential elective procedures to protect the health of those with COVID-19 and prevent infections of patients without it. 

By 2021, the number of patient stays in the hospital began rising even higher than pre-pandemic levels in large part due to the older average age of the state’s population. “Occupancy rates in the state’s 12,000 staffed hospital beds are about 10% higher than pre-pandemic levels,” the report said.

The report found that even with efforts to increase the number of people in the health care workforce, the Wisconsin Council on Medical Education and Workforce (WCMEW) predicts there will be a shortage of physicians in the state over the next 15 years.

“With 1 in 5 of Wisconsin’s practicing physicians older than 65 and increased demand for health care expected to require 2,500 more physicians than the current state, WCMEW predicts Wisconsin could face a shortfall of more than 3,000 physicians by 2035,” the report said. 

The report said the state’s shortage of registered nurses is especially acute. Although there was a 10% increase in the number of nurses between 2020 and 2022, the increase is not meeting the demand. 

In an interview with the Wisconsin Examiner, Zenk noted a new four-year nursing apprenticeship program at the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s health system, in collaboration with the state Department of Workforce Development. The program offers current UW Health employees, at no cost, the opportunity to earn a degree in nursing while being paid for 40 hours of work per week.

“We need more nurses – it’s that simple,” said Rudy Jackson, UW Health’s chief nurse executive, in a statement issued when the program began. “That means we need to create a supportive path for future nurses to join this rewarding profession.”

In addition to better salaries and more accessible pathways to education to attract new potential health care workers, the report suggests improving hospitals’ use of technology to ease the workload for health care professionals. 

The report highlights the benefits of using technology to help reduce the amount of time clinicians must spend on compliance with documentation requirements, which can give them more time to focus on patient care. 

“Wisconsin’s health care workforce challenges extend beyond hospitals—they impact the entire state,” said Eric Borgerding, the president and CEO of the Wisconsin Hospital Association, in a post on the association’s website announcing the publication of the report. “To keep pace with rising health care demands, we need to take immediate and sustained action to minimize barriers, foster innovation and support the development of a strong and sustainable workforce.”