Hospitals look to pull every lever in response to staff shortages

In April 2023, more than 3,320 hospital and health system leaders gathered in Chicago for the Becker’s Hospital Review 13th Annual Meeting. For four days, more than 430 speakers engaged their peers in panel discussions and presentations spanning 11 tracks.

Big themes emerged from the meeting’s 170 sessions. Rare was the conversation that didn’t touch on the status of the U.S. healthcare workforce, which leaders were quick to note has been a studied and well-monitored trendline for years before the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated worker exits and exacerbated shortages.