Michigan, as well as the rest of the world, is going through a health care workforce shortage. The Michigan Health Council’s (MHC) Michigan Health CareWorkforce Index projects that nearly all 36 health care occupations will experience workforce shortages between now and 2033. Many of these occupations are essential to public health.

MHC provides services and products to health care leaders, professionals, employers, and educators, such as ACEMAPP, Michigan HOSA, and MIDOCs, Craig Donahuewhich are programs that are all tailored to assist Michigan to tackle the shortage. MHC also publishes the MHC Insight.

“There are five buckets we are focusing on in our planning and strategy: exposure and career exploration, pipeline development, education and training access, retention, and employment and wages,” says Craig Donahue, MHC president and CEO. “Once the planning and strategy is prepared, the intention is to convene a group of stakeholders such as the Michigan Health and Hospital Association and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.”

Donahue says that the index and coming up with interesting ways to analyze and look at the data it reflects will help MHC develop a strategy planning document that shares,  "This is what the landscape looks like. This is what the ecosystem looks like.”

According to the de Beaumont Foundation 2024 Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey (PH WINS), today’s public health workforce is younger, more diverse but has high levels of stress and intent to leave. Reasons listed were pay, work overload/burnout, lack of opportunities to advance, stress, and organizational climate can result in health care professionals leaving for other fields of employment.
Community health worker John Fuse and sexual health nurse Marla McDonnell find their public health careers at Berrien County Health Department very rewarding.

Nursing Michigan hospitals back to health

An important partner with public health, hospitals are also experiencing staffing shortages. During the pandemic, the demand for care was very high, and the supply of hospital staff wasn’t enough to meet that demand.  

Laura Appel“The workforce shortage does affect hospitals. When we don’t have enough people doing the jobs that we need inside of hospitals, it does affect our capacity to care for patients,” says Laura Appel, executive vice president and government relations and public policy, Michigan Health and Hospital Association (MHA). “A few years ago when things were so dire, hospitals were unable to service all of the beds that they had due to the lack of nurses, patient care techs, food service workers, housekeeping, etc. to keep beds open.”

To combat this crisis, the MHA actively advocates on behalf of health care providers, communities, and the patients they serve. In 2022, this advocacy and other calls for action led state lawmakers to pass Public Act 9 of 2022, which provided hospitals $225 million for recruitment, retention and training of health care workers.

“This appropriated funding allowed hospitals to pay retention funds to encourage people to stay in the workforce. They were able to offer upfront funding to people that were looking to work in these hospitals,” says Appel. 

Currently, Michigan hospitals are recovering their workforce. According to MHA’s second annual hospital workforce survey, Michigan hospitals have successfully reduced health care workforce vacancies by 29%, including a 44% decrease in nursing job vacancies. 

Last year, 61,000 Michigan hospital employees were hired. Michigan hospitals are outperforming other states in reducing registered nurse turnover rates. 

However, of the 19,000 open positions that remain, 4,700 are nursing positions. As the aging population retires from the hospital workforce, many nurses are now seeking that same care they once helped to provide. Public health agencies such as Area Agencies on Aging and local health departments are often the ones connecting older adults to health care and wellness resources. 

“We’re bouncing back. We’re on the rebound for sure,” says Appel. “But it’s going to require a lot of work and staying on top of things. It’s not a one-and-done situation where you work at it for one year and then it will all be fixed. Workforce shortage is a long-term situation, and it’s going to require long-term commitment.” 

Elizabeth Agius

Training more social workers

Along with other health care professions, Michigan is experiencing a shortage of social workers, mostly in rural areas. This shortage especially impacts Michigan's community mental health agencies (CMHs). According to MHC, while the state has 31,000 social workers, 41,000 are needed through the next decade. This shortage creates a higher possibility that a person or family needing mental health care is unable to get that care at the time they need it. 

“I have worked for 12 years with the Children's Center in Midtown Detroit. We serve children with moderate-to-severe mental health problems,” says Elizabeth Agius, Wayne State University (WSU) director of operations for social work research. “We do foster care and adoption, so the workforce issues affect us critically. If a family calls, they're in need, you don't have enough therapists to get them in right away.”

Agius, along with others at the WSU School of Social Work are creating programs and solutions to combat the shortage of social workers. Last year, Dr. Bridget Weller, a professor at WSU, was awarded a $3.2 million, five-year grant for the Detroit Tri-County Social Work Health Career Opportunity Academy that will prepare allied health and social work professionals to provide culturally responsive health care in the Detroit Tri-County area. Participants receive a $2,100 scholarship and a $2,100 stipend.

“This program was created to address the severe shortage of health care workers head-on by supporting the graduation, retention, and matriculation of community college and university students of economically or educationally disadvantaged areas,” says Agius. “This is particularly focused on first-generation college students, students who graduated from certain Detroit high schools, and people who live below a certain income level.

Another WSU School of Social Work program Peers to Higher Education Program was created to facilitate the movement of peer recovery coaches, who play a critical role in the recovery community, to higher-wage and higher-demand jobs through higher education.

"Behavioral health is health care and we’re trying to stave off any problems that lead to people being unable to receive this care," Agius says,

Peer recovery coaches in the program receive training, support, and connections that help them enroll in Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) and Master of Social Work (MSW) programs. 

“It's one of the great ways that we tackle the health care shortage by not just waiting for people to come into these programs," says Agius. “We're going to go out into the community to tell you about health care and encourage you to come in. There’s a lot going on in this area to fight this shortage.”

Monique Bedford is an aspiring journalist, currently freelancing for Issue Media Group publications. She graduated from Oakland University in fall of 2022 with a bachelor's degree in journalism and a minor in Spanish. Monique has experience in solutions journalism, media design, and hosting a radio show. When she's not writing, you can always find her studying different cultures and languages, reading her favorite newspaper, The New York Times, and spending quality time with her friends and family.

Photos by Doug Coombe.

The Yours, Mine, and Ours — Public Health series highlights how our state's public health agencies keep us healthy, safe, and informed about issues impacting physical and mental health in our communities, homes, workplaces, and schools. The series is made possible with funding from the Michigan Association for Local Public Health.