The most recent KaufmanHall National Hospital Flash Report points to persistent and ongoing financial challenges for hospitals. The report reflects what you are seeing in your own organizations—specifically double-digit wage increases to curb reliance on contract labor, sharp upticks in supplies and drugs, and increased costs to ensure physician access.

Your hospitals, like others nationwide, unfortunately are now accustomed to operating under extreme staffing shortages. Once-in-a-lifetime challenges have strained your workforce, but for the most part remain hidden from your patients.

The average wait time in a Maryland hospital emergency department—roughly 3.5 hours by one measure—has been in the spotlight, both in Annapolis and in the media. For a state considered a national leader in EMS and trauma care, our ED wait times have consistently been among the longest in the nation. Some of the causes are known, and some we are still uncovering.

With just two weeks until the General Assembly crossover deadline, MHA’s advocacy team and your government affairs leads have partnered together to make considerable progress on the field’s top priority—growing the health care workforce.