New York to Spend $10 Billion to Expand Healthcare Workforce

Outlining what may be one of the most ambitious initiatives in workforce policy in decades, New York Governor Kathy Hochul used her 2022 State of the State Address to propose spending $10 billion to expand the state’s healthcare workforce. The initiative aims to grow New York’s healthcare workforce by 20 percent over the next five years. 

The plan calls for the state to provide $2 billion to support healthcare wages and up to $3,000 per person in bonuses for full-time workers who remain in their positions for one year. Her plan would have the state expand access to healthcare training by providing funding for new training programs, providing compensation to allow workers to train full-time support staff (which frees up existing staff to do more training), and to develop new training techniques. The Governor’s initiative would also provide financial support for tuition, instructional costs, and stipends to offset lost income while in school. Gov. Hochul’s initiative also calls on the state to recruit workers to underserved areas and to encourage healthcare workers to relocate to New York.

ASCP’s leaders welcomed the news. “The COVID-19 pandemic has spotlighted the need for a robust healthcare workforce to: [a] assure equal patient access to quality care; and [b] mitigate the unsustainable workload and stress borne by laboratory and other healthcare professionals,” said ASCP President Henry (Harv) M. Rinder, MD, FASCP. “This investment by New York is an excellent start. ASCP and the ASCP Board of Certification will be working aggressively to increase efforts at workforce development for pathology and laboratory professionals.”

Susan Graham, MS, MT(ASCP)SH^CM, Chair of the ASCP Board of Certification (BOC), said, “I am delighted to hear of the Governor’s commitment to building a sustainable healthcare workforce in New York. As a laboratory professional, I have seen first-hand the toll the pandemic has taken on my colleagues. Despite a difficult course, they have remained steadfast in their dedication to patient care.” Ms. Graham, who is the associate dean of the College of Health Professions at SUNY Upstate Medical University in New York, added, “As an educator, I look forward to initiatives that will address current shortages and create pipelines for the future.”

ASCP and the ASCP BOC have reached out to Governor Hochul to offer support for her initiative and to ensure that laboratory personnel are included in the state’s healthcare workforce plans and initiatives. In a letter to the Governor, ASCP and the ASCP BOC thanked the Governor for her “leadership and vision for outlining a $10 billion multi-year investment in health care to strengthen New York’s healthcare workforce and the state’s healthcare system. With the COVID-19 public health emergency decimating the laboratory workforce across the United States, investments in New York’s healthcare and laboratory workforce are sorely needed.” 

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