Did you know that nearly 334,000 physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants and other health care clinicians left the workforce in 2021?
According to a report from
Definitive Healthcare
, the industry has seen massive losses to retirement, burnout and pandemic-related stressors. And going forward, half of all doctors are older than 55, and 40% of active physicians will be 65 or older in the next decade.
To put it bluntly, we're careening into a severe health care worker shortage.
Recommendations to address the challenge include hospitals and medical organizations investing in technologies like telehealth, developing resources and programs to promote mental and behavioral health and changing how Graduate Medical Education programs work to help diversify and expand the workforce. BizWomen
The challenging staffing shortage is spread across all industries right now, and is now being compounded by dropping salaries.
Wage growth started to slow nationally at the end of 2022, but was still up 2.9% between December 2021 and December 2022. Unfortunately, that wasn't true in Greater Baltimore.
The Baltimore-Columbia-Towson metro area saw average private-sector earnings drop by 2.9% year over year in December, from $1,140.36 to $1,107.22, according to the latest data from the
Bureau of Labor Statistics
.
It'll be cooler today with temperatures in the upper 40s and a mix of clouds and sunshine.
Here's the news of the day.
- Maryland hospitals are already taking steps to help address the industry's worker shortage. This week, the
Maryland Hospital Association
launched a new website that helps students and individuals figure out if a medical career could be right for them. JoinMDHealth.org was launched in collaboration with the state's 60 medical facilities and systems and offers a "professional personality" quiz. For example, those who test as "head-strong" could make good laboratory scientists and those are are "hands-on" are recommended to look into patient care roles. Currently in Maryland, about 25% of nursing positions and 20% of all hospital jobs are vacant. WYPR
- Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott's controversial plan to sign a management agreement with
Baltimore Gas and Electric
for the city's underground conduit utility system will now be investigated by a committee. The City Council voted this week to create the committee, which will examine the deal that would end BGE's conduit use payments to the city in exchange for covering annual maintenance costs for the system and require the energy giant to take on $134 million in capital improvements. BGE is currently the biggest user of the system. However, there are questions as to whether the plan violates the spirit of a charter amendment voters approved in November that bars the sale or lease of the costly, yet valuable, conduit system. Baltimore Sun
- A number of bills related to concealed firearm possession will go before the Maryland Senate this General Assembly. Among them, the Gun Safety Act 2023 and Senate Bill 86, which would prohibit anyone younger than 21 from owning a rifle or shotgun and Senate Bill 113, which would allow victims of gun violence to sue gun manufacturers. The bills come months after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that New York's concealed carry permit law violated the Constitution's 14th Amendment, in turn requiring Maryland State Police to lift restrictions that previously required special permission to carry a concealed gun. Maryland Matters
- Once again Baltimore is trying to restart weekly recycling pickup for residents — a service we've been without for more than two years. This time they're trying to do it by raising pay for city sanitation workers. City Councilmembers Zeke Cohen and Isaac "Yitzy" Schleifer are leading the call for increases, arguing it would help ease staffing shortages amid a competitive labor market. Baltimore Fishbowl
- Recipients of SNAP benefits (formerly known as food stamps) will see massive reductions in their benefits in March when the pandemic-prompted emergency allotments end in February — even as inflation has driven the price of eggs as high as $4.25. During the pandemic, SNAP monthly allotments were increased to the maximum for each household size, regardless of income and expenses. Now, one Maryland woman says her benefits will be cut down from $258 to just $23. WMAR2
- There's controversy brewing in Uptown Towson. Local bar Charles Village Pub & Patio has withdrawn as the venue for an event hosted by the
Republican Women of Baltimore County
and the Patriot Club of America after facing strong criticism on social media. The event, scheduled to take place this evening, included a fundraiser for people who were arrested for participating in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Now the bar says they've declined to serve as the venue for the safety of their staff and patrons. Baltimore Sun
- Also in Towson, the men's basketball team is on a winning streak! The
Towson University
team has won six of the last seven games and has hopes of winning the conference tournament and making a run to March Madness. TU has seven games left in the regular season, facing Hampton University at home on Wednesday. WBAL-TV
-
AMC Theatres
is trying something new. The county's largest movie theater chain will start selling tickets at different prices based on where a seat is located in the venue. Viewers will be able to choose from value, standard and preferred seating, but AMC didn't specify how different the prices will be. The change comes as the company is still struggling to come back from the pandemic. CBS Baltimore
Personally, I'm not sure I see the logic in this one. I've seen a few movies in theaters as we've come out of Covid and every time it's been in a mostly empty theater where we've got our pick of seats. Tiered pricing might work for high-demand airplane seating, but I'm not sure it'll work the same for movie night.
