A highly trained and fully engaged workforce is essential for Maryland’s hospitals as you strive to deliver the best clinical care along with a superior experience for patients.

We know you face challenges filling in-demand positions, retaining good talent, combating workplace violence, and more.

That is why MHA’s three-year strategic plan, adopted last November, recognizes workforce as a major factor in the vitality of hospitals and health systems, in our field’s ability to advance the health of all Marylanders, and in the success of the Total Cost of Care Model.

There is much to be done to guarantee Maryland has a robust and engaged health care labor force. Knowing we all need to choose wisely how to use finite resources, our focus right now is on two critical challenges you’ve identified for us:workforce supplyandworkplace violence.

Recently we secured a federal waiver allowing your nurse practitioners to write home care orders and ensured passage of scope-of-practice legislation addressing shortages in your cardiac catheterization labs. We collaborated with the Maryland Nurses Association to establish our Workplace Violence Prevention Steering Committee. We are also aiding creation of a stronger talent pipeline.

These are discrete but important steps to address some of the obstacles you face.

As your hospitals and health systems continue to innovate and redesign care delivery, we are looking at how to best serve you. To help us understand your needs, on Monday we will reach outrequesting additional information through surveys and focus groups. (You can read more about these specific efforts in the Workforce section of this newsletter).

Thank you in advance for contributing to our collective effort on workforce advancement.