Legislature(2007 - 2008)BELTZ 211
02/15/2007 01:30 PM Senate LABOR & COMMERCE
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Workforce Development: Health Care Industry | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
SENATE LABOR AND COMMERCE STANDING COMMITTEE
February 15, 2007
1:31 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Johnny Ellis, Chair
Senator Gary Stevens, Vice Chair
Senator Bettye Davis
MEMBERS ABSENT
Senator Lyman Hoffman
Senator Con Bunde
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
Overview: Health Care Industry Workforce Development
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to consider
WITNESS REGISTER
DELISA CULPEPPER
Mental Health Trust Authority
POSITION STATEMENT: Commented on health care workforce
development.
KAREN PERDUE, Associate Vice President
Health Programs
University of Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Commented on health care workforce
development.
ROD BEATTIE
Alaska Workforce Investment Board
President, Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association
(ASHNHA)
Juneau AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Commented on health care workforce
development.
BILL HOGAN, Deputy Commissioner
Department of Health & Social Services
Juneau, AK 99801-0601
POSITION STATEMENT: Commented on health care workforce
development.
ACTION NARRATIVE
CHAIR JOHNNY ELLIS called the Senate Labor and Commerce Standing
Committee meeting to order at 1:31:47 PM. Present at the call to
order were Senators Davis and Ellis. The Chair announced that
Senator Stevens would be here soon.
^Workforce Development: Health Care Industry
1:32:51 PM
LISA CULPEPPER, Mental Health Trust, said at 35 percent the
health care workforce is one of the fastest growing job sectors
in Alaska and it will continue to be for the next 10 years.
1:35:51 PM
The Trust is working with the Department of Labor and Workforce
Development (DOLWD) to develop strategies for making health care
workforce development a priority in this administration - not
for just doctors and nurses, but across the whole spectrum of
health care. Another tool they are working on with the DOLWD is
the student loan repayment program, not just for state student
loans, but for people from other states who have trained as
professionals and who might want to come to Alaska to work and
get loan repayment. She said Alaska is competing with other
states because almost every other state has this program in
place already.
1:38:37 PM
SENATOR STEVENS joined the committee.
KAREN PERDUE, Associate Vice President, Health Programs,
University of Alaska, said in the last year it had prioritized
health care development and she was going to highlight some of
the partnerships that Ms. Culpepper mentioned. She said the
University has prioritized the health care workforce development
over the last five years - because these are great jobs, there's
a shortage in virtually every profession and a lot of money is
spent importing workers who could be Alaskans. Enrollment in the
health care programs has grown 66 percent in the last five years
with an increase of 55 percent in the graduation rate. About
4,400 students are currently working through the university
system across Alaska in health care programs.
She said that the explosion in distance learning has
dramatically helped them in doing this. Nursing, radiology,
medical laboratories, social work, psychology, human services
and public health are robust programs and are reaching out to
rural Alaska and to people who also work. While some people
think distance learning is inferior, but in some of the
professions where the students must pass a licensing exam, such
as nursing and social work, the performance of distance and on-
campus students can be measured and no difference can be found
and, "In fact, in some cases the distance students perform
better."
1:41:16 PM
MS. PERDUE said that behavioral health is an area where the
Trust has had huge partnerships with the University. Pages 16-17
of "Pathway to Alaska Health Care Careers" covered those.
Together they invested money in expansions in social work,
psychology, professional development and a program targeting
bringing the kids home. The behavioral health area graduates
about 360 students per year and the Trust has asked them to ramp
that number up, which they are talking about right now. The
nursing program has had great partnerships with the hospitals -
doubling its graduates. They have gone from 1 nursing program to
11 and are graduating around 220 nurses a year. The industry has
donated about $4 million to the University to do that work.
MS. PERDUE said the state also needs more doctors and the WWAMI
program is being doubled. She concluded by saying their budget
reflects increases to strengthen all these areas. The Trust and
Hospital Association partnerships have allowed the University to
organize these programs in an efficient way to meet the state's
need.
1:44:13 PM
CHAIR ELLIS commented that the double WWAMI buttons his office
made are very popular and that nursing programs are of
particular interest to him especially in dealing with poverty
and getting people off of public assistance. He asked if the
folks trained in Alaska are staying in the state or leaving.
MR. PERDUE replied that a lot of students stay in Alaska and one
of the reasons is that the program is not in Anchorage only.
Today more students are off the Anchorage campus than are on;
they are in communities like Kodiak, Bethel and Sitka. The local
hospitals and physicians recruit these students very heavily
from the time they enter their course work. Anchorage students
get offers from out of state that include high bonuses, but the
numbers show that 95 percent of them stay in Alaska.
1:46:11 PM
ROD BEATTIE, President of the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing
Home Association (ASHNHA), thanked the committee for passing
recent legislation expanding the WWAMI program. He said he is
currently a member of the Alaska Workforce Investment Board, but
he has been critical of it because it does not place significant
importance on development of the work force for health care
occupations and careers. These jobs pay very well, and there is
a great need for them around the state. These jobs are
environmentally friendly.
He said the Alaska Health Education Consortium (AHEC) is
attached to the University's School of Nursing. Alaska is the
only state that doesn't have it attached to the School of
Medicine. This is specifically geared towards waking high school
students up to health careers and working with the health care
community to develop those kinds of jobs. "But if they don't
have a place to go to get the education they need and we don't
find a way to make that available to them, we'll lose them to
other places." He thought the DOLWD should carve out some money
to dedicate toward health careers. He said funding is a
competitive process and they end up losing out to all the other
things that the state is trying to accomplish. He said the
University can't do it by itself. He represents 37 health care
facilities around the state, but there is only so much they can
do.
MR. BEATTIE said his rural members are really struggling in
terms of trying to fill some critical positions. For example, he
wanted to see certification occur on rad/techs so that people
are safely exposed to having X-rays taken or ultra-sounds
performed. However, he said, the more certification and
requirements placed on those, the fewer candidates there are and
the more likely people will have to travel even more in the
state to get services because they can't get them locally in
smaller locations.
1:50:55 PM
CHAIR ELLIS mentioned talking with Click Bishop, Commissioner of
the DOLWD, about dedicated funding for training within the DOLWD
toward the health care fields.
MR. BEATTIE replied that he would be interested in the answer,
because he had asked that same question and didn't get an
answer. Minimal money, if any, was going into that area.
CHAIR ELLIS asked if the residency programs could be expanded
like the one at Providence Hospital.
MR. BEATTIE agreed that would be a good way to keep physicians
here once they complete residency. He thought other hospitals
have that capability. The accreditation has to be addressed for
people going through residency, however, so they can see it as
being a creditable program.
He said the whole graduate medical education piece has been
altered by the federal government in the last few years, so it
is trickier to get into.
1:54:09 PM
BILL HOGAN, Deputy Commissioner, Department of Health and Social
Services (DHSS), said workforce development is a priority of his
department that cuts across all of its divisions, not only for
the state, but for all the grantees. Through a very strong
collaboration with the University and the Mental Health Trust
Authority significant progress was made with the curriculum
within the University as well as expanding entry level human
service options and bachelors and masters degrees of social work
options. He is happy to say that there is now a PhD program in
psychology that is jointly governed from both UAA and UAF.
Clearly the expectation they set with development of this
program is that those individuals practice in community settings
when they come out of the program. That is a significant step
forward for Alaska.
MR. HOGAN said they need a number of behavioral health
paraprofessionals and professionals at all levels in all sorts
of settings to not only bring kids back to Alaska from out-of-
state into residential psychiatric treatment centers, but to
keep them from going out.
Before the meeting started, Mr. Hogan said he glanced through
the Alaska Commission on Aging draft state aging plan and came
to the page on workforce development. Aging folks will grow
dramatically over the next 20-25 years. "We need a workforce
that can keep seniors in their homes in their own communities
and if not, we need a workforce to work in long-term care
facilities."
MR. HOGAN said he is enthused about the direction the state is
taking and strongly supported the bill that increased WWAMI
slots and the Governor's new Health Care Strategies Council that
will focus on what a health care system should like in Alaska.
Workforce development is a key piece.
1:57:57 PM
CHAIR ELLIS asked if it has been hard to recruit and retain
certain professional positions.
MR. HOGAN replied yes. Last year the nurses were provided a two-
range increase. That made a big difference in the department's
being able to recruit and retain public health nurses as well as
nurses in the Pioneer Homes, the Alaska Psychiatric Institute
and in juvenile justice facilities. His frustration is that
filling professional behavioral health positions is still a
problem.
CHAIR ELLIS thanked everyone for their comments and adjourned
the meeting at 1:59:43 PM.
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