House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda

 

We must take action to address workforce shortages in healthcare. That is why I am introducing legislation to expand the Pennsylvania Targeted Industry Program (PA-TIP) to include four-year pre-Physician Assistant programs and bachelor’s degree programs in Nursing, Public Health, and Community Health. This legislation will provide financial assistance for individuals that pursue this important field and ensure that communities across Pennsylvania have a robust healthcare and public health workforce.
 
Pennsylvania is currently experiencing a labor shortage within our healthcare system. This is an issue that hospitals have been facing for years, but the COVID-19 pandemic has made it a crisis. According to reports, Pennsylvania is expected to be short an estimated 300,000 healthcare workers by 2026, including over 20,000 nurses. Although TIP provides scholarships to individuals in education programs that are in immediate workforce need for the state, such as healthcare, the program currently only includes education programs that are two years or less in length. This excludes several professions that the state is in dire need of, such as nursing, due to the time needed to complete these programs. Healthcare is an essential service for all communities across the state, and we need to do everything we can to incentivize individuals to pursue this field.
 
All communities across the state need healthcare workers. I hope you will join me in supporting this important legislation that will address this labor shortage by providing more resources to individuals seeking to enter the healthcare workforce.