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Health Professionals Are an Economic Engine for the U.S., Academic Health Center Leader Addresses State Legislators at NCSL Forum

Posted on: Friday, 10 December 2004, 15:00 CST

WASHINGTON, Dec. 10 /U.S. Newswire/ -- "Health professionals are an economic engine for the United States. Health care professionals ARE our hospitals, clinics and nursing homes. Our national and state policies...must support and protect this important resource," Dr. Daniel Rahn, president of the Medical College of Georgia, told the National Conference of State Legislatures at the Fall Forum in Savannah today.

Dr. Rahn said a national crisis is imminent because of the imbalance between supply and demand, the shortage of faculty to teach health professionals, the aging of America, and the lack of interest in the health professions. Continued state budget cuts in health and higher education will only intensify the crisis, according to Rahn. Without health professionals, the $1.5 billion his institution and its affiliates contribute to Georgia's economy along with 25 percent of jobs in Augusta would be gone. More important, a healthy America is at risk, said Rahn. "Compromise the nation's health care workforce and you put America's health, security, and prosperity at risk," he emphasized.

Rahn pointed to the aging of the baby boomers as a factor bringing the crisis to the fore. Interest in the health professions has waned, he added. Finally, the graying of the professoriate is the real issue. The aging of health professionals combined with an inability of universities to compete with salaries in the non- academic sector has already created problems. Rahn cited the 16,000 qualified applicants rejected from schools of nursing last year because of faculty shortages as only the tip of the iceberg. Pharmacy, allied health, dentistry, and medicine are facing problems.

Rahn suggested that state legislators nationwide:

-- Help repair the strained social contract between the health care workforce and the public. Stop thinking of the health sector as a drain on other sectors of the economy.

-- Recognize that the shortage of health professionals is a national issue.

-- Support health workforce development, particularly faculty development.

-- Create new opportunities for partnerships and alliances in the private sector for education, workforce development and technology development.

Rahn said academic health centers are actively engaged in seeking solutions, including improved work environments, and ladders of opportunities to open new pools of applicants for the health professionals. But continued budget cuts are a barrier to expanding successful efforts, said Rahn, particularly with regard to faculty development and recruitment.

"We need elected leaders at national, state, and local levels of government to view the preparation of health professionals of the future as a national priority," he concluded.

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The Association of Academic Health Centers is a national, nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the health of the people by advancing the leadership of academic health centers in health professions education, biomedical and health services research, and health care delivery.

http://www.usnewswire.com

Source: U.S. Newswire

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