Standing outside of Regions Hospital in St. Paul today, Governor Tim Walz detailed a plan he hopes will increase emergency staffing support for hospitals statewide that are overrun by COVID- 19 patients.
“We’re moving $40 million of the flexible American Rescue Plan dollars that was in the governor's and my authority to be able to move,” says Walz. "It’s to be able to hire up to close to 350 healthcare professionals, mostly nurses, to work 60 hour weeks for the next 60 days.”
Walz says the pool of newly hired healthcare workers will come from a national staffing agency and will be utilized in a way similar to how the federal government's pool of health care workers and National Guard CAN’s are utilized.
“It will not alleviate the problem, but it should be somewhat of a decompression,” Walz says.
HealthPartners president and CEO Andrea Walsh says healthcare workers need relief as they work longer hours and extra shifts. Today there were 90 RN openings at Regions alone.
“So this commitment of staffing agencies support will make a material difference and help all of us across the state,” explains Walsh. “Make sure that we've got nursing and other important healthcare staff available to tend to the needs of Minnesota's patients who end up ill in our hospital.”
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Minnesota Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm also announced today she will use powers granted to her as a commissioner to assist capacity expansion.
“I am waiving licensing fees and some of the restrictions that make it difficult for hospitals or nursing homes to add beds, or flex type of beds,” says Malcolm. “So waving both the licensing fees on those beds and giving more flexibility for bringing beds online.”
Nursing homes will also be able to reactivate beds a previously filed to leave vacant with more staffing coming in.
“We also want to make it possible for physical capacity to be opened up where that makes sense,” Malcolm adds.
Malcolm says they're working with eight regional healthcare coalitions to determine where the over 300 new healthcare workers brought in by the $40 million dollars in funding will go.
“No, there is not going to be staff going to every single hospital in the state. This will be a more strategic place where it can do the most good,” Malcolm said.
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