Workforce Wellbeing
Supporting Health Care Workers
The health care workforce is in an extreme crisis. The unrelenting stressors of the pandemic have accelerated and contributed to burnout making an already dire situation even worse. The physical and emotional toll many health care providers have experienced during COVID-19 has caused some to retire early, seek nonpatient care roles, or switch professions altogether leading to an unprecedented workforce shortage.
CAPH supports policy efforts to increase, strengthen, and diversify our health care workforce. In the 2022-23 State Budget, CAPH supported a package of investments that will allow for additional training and pipeline programs, reduce barriers to health care careers, and help develop a culturally and ethnically inclusive workforce.
Another key area of focus is Graduate Medical Education (GME). California’s public health care systems train more than half of all new doctors in hospitals across the state. We are asking the Administration and the Legislature to support a proposal to increase funding for the Medi-Cal GME program to help support this training. The proposal would provide public health care systems with State General Fund to replace the self-financed dollars spent currently to fund the program.
Our partner, the California Health Care Safety Net Institute, is working closely with our members to help address provider burnout and promote the mental health and wellbeing of our frontline health care providers.