The Department of Labor (DOL) announced that it will spend more than $43 million dealing with shortages in the health care industry, including long term care. (Source)
On several occasions, I’ve blogged about the shortage of nurses and geriatric physicians. As baby boomers retire and age, many will need long term care, which will put pressure on an industry already faced with worker shortages. Ironically, baby boomer retirement is linked to shortages among long term caregivers.
DOL and leaders in the health care industry will focus on such tasks as:
• expanding the pipeline of youth entering the health care profession;
• identifying alternative labor pools such as immigrants, veterans, and older workers that can be tapped and trained;
• developing alternative training strategies for educating and training health care professionals, such as apprenticeship, distance learning, and accelerated training;
• developing tools and curriculum for enhancing the skills of health care professionals for nationwide distribution…
For more information about the grants, see the Federal Register entry (PDF).
(Pictured: Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao)