Adding Childcare Solving Labor Shortage

Since the start of the pandemic, about 2/3rds of childcare centers have closed, according to a National Database of Childcare Closures in the U.S., worsening a childcare crisis that further exacerbates the national nursing shortage.

Many experts say providing childcare to retain nurses and other clinicians is the answer.  Colorado is offering a hiring bonus of $14,000 to nurses to work in mental health facilities in an effort to fill nearly 200 open positions in their facilities. The facilities, located in Pueblo and Fort Logan in Denver, can have as many as 100 beds open at a time but are not available to patients because of the lack of staff. Patients often remain in jails while they wait for a bed to open up.

Wellstar Health, a health system in Georgia, conducted an internal study reporting a low turnover rate of staff members because they used the childcare center – only 1.5%. Hospitals and other employers are prioritizing childcare as well- Tampa General Hospital in Florida has an on-site childcare center managed by a third-party provider with extended hours.

Ballad Health is in the process of expanding to include 11 more childcare sites throughout Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia particularly for recruitment and retention of staff.

Colorado is one of the top 5 states in terms of need for nurses, with an estimated shortage of 10,000 registered nurses by 2026, according to a Mercer study. The Colorado Department of Human Services relies on third-party staffing agencies to retain staff, but it often falls short. Since the start of the initiative in two months the Department has been able to hire around a dozen nurses to work in the hospitals but is in desperate need of more.