University of New England President James D. Herbert testified before a U.S. Senate committee in Washington, D.C., about the health care workforce shortage. Courtesy photo/Aaron Schwartz

BIDDEFORD — University of New England President James D. Herbert, Ph.D., testified for the second time before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Subcommittee on Primary Health and Retirement Security in Washington, D.C., about the health care workforce shortage and methods to improve it.

Herbert, who was introduced by U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, spoke during a Congressional hearing at the request of Subcommittee Chairman U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Herbert first spoke before the HELP subcommittee on the topic in May 2021.

According to the American Hospital Association, the United States will face a shortage of up to 124,000 physicians by 2033 and will need to hire 200,000 nurses per year to meet demand. The Association of American Medical Colleges has said the U.S. may lose as many as 55,200 primary care physicians by that time.

To address this predicted shortage, Herbert proposed six specific strategies:

1. Increase the number of doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals educated by expanding partnerships between universities and community health care settings to develop additional training opportunities, revise out-of-date policies, provide targeted one-time adjustments to expand health care training infrastructure, and develop strategic scholarship and loan-repayment programs

2. Intentionally recruit more students who look like the communities where service is needed, as individuals from underrepresented groups are more likely to seek out practitioners who share their identities and background

3. Use a variety of tools to encourage health care providers to practice in underserved areas, including rural, tribal, and medically underserved urban communities

4. Leverage the power of technology, including telehealth and digital medicine, to reach underserved communities and integrate robust telehealth training for all  health profession students in close partnership with various training sites

5. Modify state-level regulations to allow health professionals to practice at the top of their scope

6. Fundamentally change the prevailing educational model by encouraging accrediting bodies to allow training programs to be more creative and flexible and promoting Interprofessional Education (IPE) training models to break down traditional health care training and practice siloes

UNE was an early adopter of and is a national leader in interprofessional education. Herbert informed the subcommittee that interprofessional collaborative practice has been shown to improve clinical outcomes, reduce medical errors, increase patient satisfaction, and decrease provider burnout.

Herbert stressed that no single strategy outlined in his testimony can solve the health care worker shortage; rather, they must work in concert.

“Successfully addressing America’s health care workforce crisis will require not merely acting on each of these individual initiatives in isolation but by seamlessly integrating them,” he said. “Although strategic investment of resources will be required, much of the work we confront reflects cultural changes that will require strong leadership; a willingness to innovate; and coordinated partnership between academia, government, industry, and the nonprofit sector.”