Health Work Force Institute Receives $250,000 Grant to Examine Effectiveness of Efforts to Fill Workforce Shortages

SEATTLE - Hospitals are investing in entry-level worker training as a way to create jobs and fill critical work force shortages, but do these investments pay dividends? That is the question the Health Work Force Institute, an affiliate of the Washington State Hospital Association, hopes to answer with a national study. Funded by a $220,000 grant from the Hitachi Foundation, the study will assess the effectiveness of training programs and other investments benefiting entry-level hospital employees.

“More hospitals are filling critical shortages of skilled health care workers by training entry-level workers up to the next level rather than living with constant turnover and reduced levels of service for patients,” Scott Bosch, CEO of Harrison Medical Center, and chair of the Health Work Force Institute said. “This research will help hospitals target their funding to achieve the best results for workers and, ultimately, provide the best care for our patients.”

Over a two-year period, the institute will analyze the outcomes of these investments at 15-20 hospitals across the country. These facilities employ career ladder programs to prepare their entry-level workers to move into high demand, higher-skill vacancies within the hospital. The study will look at a variety of measures including turnover, productivity, employee performance, physician satisfaction, and earnings gains for employees.

“We’ve realized that we need to do more than simply fill hospital vacancies; we also need to ensure that the employees coming out of these training programs produce high quality results for patients,” said Cynthia Hecker, Associate Administrator and Chief Nursing Officer at Harborview Medical Center and institute board member. “This study will give us the first measure of the impact these employee investment programs are having. That will help hospitals across the country develop their own career ladder programs, or strengthen the programs they already have.”

The Health Work Force Institute (HWFI) was created as an affiliate program of the Washington State Hospital Association in response to the growing shortage of skilled health care workers in the region. To address current and future work force needs, the institute creates scalable, sustainable public-private partnerships that result in new career development opportunities for entry-level health care workers. HWFI’s efforts have yielded promising results.

“We selected the Health Work Force Institute for this grant because they have a track record of implementing innovative and successful solutions to the health work force crisis,” said Barbara Dyer, President and CEO of The Hitachi Foundation. “They understand that to solve this crisis you need to bring all the players together. Their combination of research skills and practical experience with hospitals, employees, and policy makers enables them to create effective and lasting partnerships.”

The Hitachi Foundation was established as an independent nonprofit philanthropic organization by Hitachi, Ltd. in 1985. Governed by a Board of Directors composed of highly accomplished Americans, the Foundation seeks to discover and expand business practices that create tangible and enduring economic opportunities for low-wealth Americans, their families, and the communities in which they reside.

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