Workforce study shows positive effects of education, training initiatives but growing need for services

Hawaii’s need for long-term care and other healthcare professionals has slowed over the past two years because of successful worker training initiatives, but demand for such professionals continues to grow because of its aging population, according to a new report from the Healthcare Association of Hawaii. 

The 2024 Healthcare Workforce Initiative Report follows reports issued in 2019 and 2022. The latest report is based on surveys of 119 organizations throughout Aloha State, among them skilled nursing facilities, assisted living communities and Medicare-certified home health agencies.

“It’s really important we believe to understand the actual demand in healthcare so we can work with our members, we can work with educational institutions, we can work with our legislators together on how to meet that demand in Hawaii,” HAH President and CEO Hilton Raethel told the McKnight’s Business Daily on Monday.

HAH is the state affiliate of the American Health Care Association / National Center for Assisted Living.

Wesley Lo, CEO of Ohana Pacific Health and Hale Makua, said that the skilled nursing workforce is struggling, as vacancy rates in long-term care have been problematic. 

“In our state, and anywhere, the problem is the backup into the hospitals. All the issues of long-term care manifest themselves in the emergency room and lack of hospital beds,” Lo said. “So we are struggling, for sure, in skilled nursing.”

Skilled nursing facilities had the second greatest number of job openings among the care types studied at the time of the survey, second to hospitals. SNFs were the only care setting to have an increase in vacancy rate from 2023 (18% to 23%).

Of the 992 jobs open in SNFs, 386 of them were for certified nurse assistants. That’s a 41% increase over the 2023 report. There were 72 open jobs for licensed practical nurses in SNFs, or an 11% increase over the last report.

Home health has the highest vacancy rate of all of the healthcare components studied, at 30%, although the rate is down from 39% in 2022, according to the data.

Although more openings exist in assisted living now than in 2022, the percentage of open positions decreased from 15% to 11% in the same time period. This change is due to concerted efforts to increase the entry-level workforce, the report authors said.

Lo said that a need exists for healthcare workers, but the industry is competing against other industries for the same workers.

“If you don’t have a good program, you’re going to be chasing the 25 cents more per hour that Target or Walmart’s paying,” he said. 

Workforce development programs

The easing of labor challenges can be attributed to workforce development programs, according to Janna Hoshide, HAH associate vice president of workforce development.

CNAs are the greatest need across the state, she said. 

“So in an effort to really expand that candidate and the workforce pipeline for entry-level positions, we developed a high school certificate program for high school seniors,” Hoshide said. “ Last year, we offered the program at 14 high schools and trained over 100 students, 80% of which were CNAs. The goal is that the students have an offer in hand by the time that they graduate.”

HAH works with employers to provide clinical experience, professionalism training, coaching and help with filling out job applications, to help ensure success. The program has a 98% completion rate and an employment rate of 75%, she said.

“With Hawaii’s high cost of living … those in entry-level positions, if they don’t have opportunities to progress, then they’re going to leave healthcare or potentially leave the state,” Hoshide said.

To entice CNAs to stay in Hawaii and advance to higher-paying careers, HAH also offers a 12-month earn-and-learn glidepath, which provides bridge training to advance CNAs to LPNs.

“A the end, the students have an opportunity to increase their pay by up to 50%,” Hoshide said.

Read more about HAH study findings related to assisted living by reading this article.