PETITION OF:

Whereas, it being determined that there is a public health and safety crisis in Massachusetts as a result of large and persistent worker shortages at all levels and in all occupations in the healthcare sector, the Commonwealth must establish a set of strategic interventions to solve current worker shortages and to prevent such shortages in the future. Worker shortages and high worker turnover have been identified as a main cause of inadequate or inconsistent patient care, healthcare disparities, emergency room diversions, deferred or denied testing and treatment, increased medical errors, and increased costs. A multi-stakeholder council, representing all sub sectors of the healthcare industry, labor and professional organizations, workforce investment boards, education and workforce development, healthcare advocates, the Governor and the legislature will be established to develop and oversee the success of a state-wide strategic action plan with measurable outcomes that utilizes existing and supplementary state and federal funds..

SECTION 1. Chapter 23 of the General Laws is hereby amended by adding the following section:- Section X.

(a) There shall be in the executive office of labor and workforce development, but not subject to the jurisdiction thereof, a healthcare workforce council, hereinafter called the council. The council shall review existing data regarding the current state of the healthcare workforce and establish a set of evidence-based priorities and specific performance measures for Massachusetts’ education, higher education, and workforce development systems that will serve as indicators of success in solving the healthcare worker shortages; and will work with representatives from those systems to develop programmatic strategies to meet specific measurement standards over a four-year period. The council will oversee tracking, evaluating, and recommendations for improving strategies over the course of a four-year period; and will advocate for necessary policy and resource deployment changes required to implement recommendations. The council will seek to address the most critical problems hindering the growth and improvement of the Massachusetts healthcare workforce. These will include, but are not limited to reducing the incidence of persistent job vacancies to below two percent; expanding the capacity of the Commonwealth’s public and private nursing education system, with particular emphasis on increasing the number of qualified nursing faculty; improving the quality of nursing through improved nursing education and professional development opportunities; ensuring effective, performance-based coordination across funding and service streams; responding to regional differences in healthcare needs and workforce demographics, with particular emphasis on medically underserved areas or areas experiencing significant healthcare disparities; increasing ethnic and racial diversity in the workforce; modernizing curricula and student laboratories to better prepare the healthcare workforce to perform effectively in a rapidly changing technological environment; providing upgrade training and professional development to ensure that Massachusetts retains its world class status in the healthcare and biosciences industries; developing regional strategies in partnership with workforce investment boards, including career ladders and apprenticeships, that support entry-level and paraprofessional healthcare workers to progress to professional licensed positions and better wages; encouraging middle and high school students to explore careers in the health care industry and prepare students for post-secondary education and jobs in health care; creating bridge programs at all of the state’s community colleges to increase basic skills and prepare incumbent workers for career advancement in the health care industry; and standardize entrance requirements, curriculum and graduation standards across two and four year nursing and allied health education programs.

(b) The council shall oversee the development of a systematic approach to collecting, integrating, and disseminating data on current and future healthcare workforce issues. The council will report regularly on demand for particular healthcare workers by occupation and region; the current status of the healthcare labor force; enrollments and graduation data from healthcare occupation education programs; changing workplace needs, including technological changes and their impact on worker skill needs; workplace diversity and the effectiveness of current approaches to addressing healthcare skill shortages. Commonwealth Corporation shall serve as the coordinator of healthcare workforce data and research resources currently available and will work with the council and others to identify and prioritize research gaps that must be addressed in order to prevent future critical workforce shortages. Existing data that will contribute to this effort include, but are not limited to those within the Divisions of Unemployment Assistance and Career Services, the Division of Professional Licensure; the Department of Public Health, the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education, the National Center for Education Statistics, and other sources such as the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, the Massachusetts Center for Nursing and surveys by workforce investment boards, industry associations and state and national professional organizations. Commonwealth Corporation will administer a fund pool to support expanded research efforts, such as enhancing the DUA/DCS Job Vacancy Survey to include a larger number of healthcare employers, gathering workforce data through the Bureau of Professional Licensure, and other research initiatives determined to be of consequence by the council.

(c) The council shall appoint subcommittees as it deems necessary to develop a funding coordination strategy and to identify service gaps or barriers to progress for individuals enrolled in or applying to enroll in healthcare occupation education programs. The council shall examine the full breadth of the healthcare worker pipeline, and prioritize the use of resources to address the most significant or critical shortages. The council must establish an action plan that utilizes existing state and federal funding resources, and where possible leverages employer or other private resources, and that defines a timeline, projected milestones and demonstrable success indicators. The council will identify statutory and regulatory impediments to progress; to alert the Governor and legislature about needed changes and to offer clearly articulated recommendations for new policies whenever warranted.

(d) The council shall identify pilot initiatives each year that will facilitate new approaches to strategic collaboration between and among systems and programs, encourage completion of education programs, diversity and retention on the job of underserved populations, test potential policy recommendations, and leverage the sustained involvement of healthcare employer partners and local workforce investment boards in strengthening the healthcare worker pipeline. These pilot initiatives shall be of sufficient length to provide measurable results. The Council shall, subject to appropriation, utilize funds from the Workforce Competitiveness Trust Fund, established per Chapter 123 of the Acts of 2006, Section 31, section 2WWW and the Workforce Training Fund Section 2RR to develop and support, pilot initiatives that increase the number of Massachusetts public higher education faculty and students who participate in programs that support careers in fields related to nursing and allied health. The Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development may expend monies from these funds on activities that are calculated to increase the number of qualified nursing and allied health faculty and students in the commonwealth and improve the nursing and allied health educational offerings available in public higher education institutions. Grants and other disbursements and activities may involve, without limitation, the University of Massachusetts, state and community colleges, business and industry partnerships, regional alliances, workforce investment boards, 501(c)(3) organizations and other community groups which promote the nursing profession. Grants and other disbursements and activities may support, without limitation: (i) the goal of rapidly increasing the number of nurses and allied health workers (ii) enhancing the role of the system of public higher education, as institutions and in partnerships with other stakeholders, in meeting the short and long-term workforce challenges in the nursing and allied health professions and; (iii) the development and use of innovative curricula, courses, programs and modes of delivering education in nursing and allied health professions for faculty and students in these fields and; (iv) activities with the growing network of stakeholders in the nursing and allied health professions to create, implement, share and make broadly and publicly available best practices and innovative programs relative to instruction, development of partnerships and expanding and maintaining faculty and student involvement in careers in these fields; and (v) strengthening the institutional capacity to develop and implement long-term programs and policies to respond effectively to these challenges. The council will oversee a discretionary fund pool that supports pilot initiatives. The fund pool will be administered by Commonwealth Corporation under the direction of the council.

(e) The council shall consist of: 2 members of the senate: the chair of the committee on labor and workforce development and the chair of the committee on health care financing or committee on public health 1 of whom shall serve as co-chair appointed by the senate president; 2 members of the house of representatives: the chair of the committee on labor and workforce development and the chair of the committee on health care financing or committee on public health, 1 of whom shall serve as co-chair appointed by the speaker of the house; the Secretary of the department of workforce development; the chancellor of the board of higher education; the secretary of the executive office of health and human services; the secretary of elder affairs; the commissioner of the department of education; the president of commonwealth corporation; the president of the university of Massachusetts; the commissioner of the department of public health; the director of the division of healthcare finance and policy; 12 members to be selected by the following organizations, 1 of whom shall be from of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, 1 of whom shall be from SEIU 1199, 1 of whom shall be from the Massachusetts Workforce Board Association, 1 of whom shall be from the executive office of community colleges, 1 of whom shall be from the Massachusetts Hospital Association, 1 of whom shall be from the Massachusetts extended care federation, 1 of whom shall be from the home care alliance of Massachusetts, 1 of whom shall be from the Massachusetts league of community health centers, 1 of whom shall be from the Massachusetts Center for Nursing, 1 of whom shall be from the Massachusetts Nurses Association, 1 of whom shall be from the Massachusetts Medical Society, 1 of whom shall be from the Massachusetts Area Health Education Center Network, 1 of whom shall be from Massachusetts Association of Colleges of Nursing; and an additional three health care employers to be appointed by the governor.

(f) Members of the council shall serve without compensation. The council shall annually, on or before December 31, file a report with the clerk of the house of representatives and the clerk of the senate, the house and senate committees on ways and means, the joint committee on labor and workforce development, the joint committee on public health, the joint committee on health care financing and the joint committee on higher education. The report shall include, but not be limited to, an updated status of the healthcare workforce and healthcare education programs, projections based on the research initiatives of the council, and recommendations for improvements thereof.

(g) The department of workforce development shall provide the funds necessary to carry out the activities of this section through workforce investment act funds. The department may use up to $300,000 of the workforce competitiveness trust fund for this purpose and shall provide administrative support to the council, as requested.