Labor Shortage, Outdated System Delays Health Care Licenses

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(CENTRAL SQUARE ) - In Pennsylvania's struggle to hire more health professionals, long delays in obtaining licenses have sparked complaints and caused new doctors and nurses to leave the state.

In a House Appropriations Committee hearing, lawmakers pressed State Department officials on the scale of the problem.

When permit approvals are delayed, state officials receive calls for help.

Rep. Jim Strozzi, R-Indiana, said: "One of the biggest requests we receive is to help navigate the process and speed up the process."

"A lot of medical professionals who graduate from school want to get those licenses on time, and we're hearing about serious delays -- months and months," Strozzi said. "Frankly, this is unacceptable ... we are losing people to other countries who could have issued these permits in a timely manner."

The fight to increase the number of health professionals is echoing in hospitals, doctors' offices and elsewhere. During the outbreak, long-term care facilities in Pennsylvania lost nearly 30,000 employees and nursing home waiting lists exceeded 2,000 , Center Square previously reported .

Acting Commonwealth Secretary Al Schmidt said staff shortages and an outdated software system made it difficult to quickly review and approve permits. Gov. Josh Shapiro's proposed budget is $10 million to update the state's PALS licensing system.

"There are two critical aspects of the delay," Schmidt said. "One of those is definitely PALS - and the consensus is that it needs to be replaced and it's not working as well as it should."

The other side is the lack of staff in the department.

"There's a kind of performance death spiral going on in performance management," Schmidt said. "The clerk has to process the orders and the clerk has to answer the phone. You can't process orders and answer the phone at the same time, especially with a lot of openings."

Schmidt noted that half of the vacant positions are in the Council of Elders. The vacancy in the office for work and work is 30%. Recruiting people to fill these vacancies can also be a challenging process. Many applicants leave and take other jobs.

"The process can take up to three months, and most normal people can't wait three months," Schmidt said. "The pay is not necessarily very competitive and the conditions are difficult."

For health care workers waiting to be licensed, the solution remains elusive and lawmakers continue to field calls.

The department wants to replace the PALS system, but a call for proposals won't be published until September, and officials expect the new system to be up and running by the end of 2024.

"Overtime isn't necessarily a long-term solution to making things better," Schmidt said. "Filling those positions is an important part of it. We can put it there after we float it."

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Keywords: Pennsylvania, work, health, license, employment

Original Author: By Anthony Henin | Central square

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