Albany Must Pass Governor Hochul’s Common Sense Measures to Resolve Our Health Care Staffing Crisis
The 700 members of the New York Organization for Nursing Leadership advocate for policies that advance nursing practice, and support practice to top of education and licensure. Our organization promotes the highest standards of care delivered by a highly educated and competent workforce to constantly improve the care we deliver to our patients.
Since the COVID pandemic, the country has been forced to contend with growing nursing shortages, which have rippled across our entire health care system. Even six years after the first case of COVID-19 was detected here in New York, our state is no exception: a recent report found that demand for registered nurses is projected to be greater than the number of people entering the profession through 2032.
Thes shortage of nurses and of healthcare workers in general, has had significant downstream impacts for patients. Too many New Yorkers are familiar with the experience of having to schedule a routine appointment months in advance or being forced to sit through marathon delays in the hospital waiting room. As we saw during COVID, these long waits can lead to deferred care, potentially worsening health outcomes for New Yorkers.
In order to expand the capability of the healthcare workforce in its current state, we must look at every aspect of care delivery for opportunities to reassign tasks to capable individuals, with the proper competency training and eventual supervisory oversight. Such common sense care delivery model revisions will relieve some of the strain on nurses and healthcare workers, and bolster recruitment and retention.
Thankfully, Governor Hochul is proposing to do just that. The Governor’s “scope of practice” reforms in her Fiscal Year 2027 budget would ease the burden on nurses by allowing certified nurse aides to administer medication in skilled nursing facilities and authorize medical assistants to administer certain vaccinations.
Currently, only licensed nurses can administer basic medications to patients in nursing homes. Through Governor Hochul proposal, Certified Nursing Assistants in these facilities could obtain additional education and competency training to become Certified Medication Aides, enabling them to provide medication to residents. This will free up nurses to focus on higher-level care responsibilities that will improve the quality of care for our residents. Expanding the scope of CNA responsibilities also would provide career advancement opportunities, increasing career satisfaction, expanding the workforce, and reducing turnover.
For the same reasons, we also support the Governor’s proposal to allow medical assistants to administer vaccines under proper supervision. The state already authorized this for many years through executive order during the COVID-19 pandemic. That change allowed us to get more shots into arms and beat back the virus. Right now, New York is the only state in the country that does not have this common-sense policy on the books. Removing such restrictions on health care workers will bring us in line with the rest of the nation while reducing the strain on Registered Nurse and Licensed Practical Nursing staff, who currently have to perform these duties.
Taken together, these reforms would safely ease current regulations that restrict practice expansion, while upholding high standards on quality of care. It would attract more individuals to entry-level healthcare careers, allow for upskilling in the workforce, and improve retention. Further, it would help reduce the bottlenecks that are plaguing our system and limiting access to care. We urge the Legislature to include these reforms in the final budget.
Ann Harrington, RN is Executive Director of the New York Organization for Nursing Leadership (NYONL), a statewide nurse leader membership organization.
