Blog / Trends

Increasing Efforts to Address the Health Professional Shortage

by Jennifer Lawson
Increasing Efforts to Address the Health Professional Shortage
Front cover of the 2025 Trends reportThis article was first published in our 11 Trends in Philanthropy for 2025 report. Explore the full report here.

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The United States is in dire need of healthcare workers (American Hospital Association, 2022; Adashi et al., 2024). With projections suggesting that by 2026 it is possible that more than 3 million healthcare personnel, including doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals, may be needed to meet demands for care (AHA, 2022), the question remains — what can and should be done to reduce or even eradicate this conundrum that limits access to care (AHA, 2022; Adashi et al., 2024)?

Philanthropists, community organizations, government, and even corporations are responding to the call for help by allocating resources to address this problem, in hopes of ensuring a critical component of society’s safety net is available when necessary.

Philanthropists Fund Healthcare Education

Over a relatively short period of time, several philanthropists have given large donations to universities to support careers in healthcare.

  • In 2018, Elaine and Kenneth Langone donated $100 million to the NYU School of Medicine to provide scholarships to medical students. In 2023, they circled back and gave the school an additional $200 million to ensure that future medical students could attend school without paying tuition (Di Mento, 2023).

  • In 2022, The University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Nursing school received a significant gift from Leonard Lauder. Earmarked for the school’s nurse practitioner program, the funds will prepare nurses who will “provide primary care to individuals and families in underserved communities across the U.S.” (University of Pennsylvania, 2022, para. 1).

  • The Albert Einstein College of Medicine was the recent recipient of a $1 billion gift from Dr. Ruth Gottesman. The retired professor’s donation will cover the cost of tuition for all students (Rothenberg & Souza, 2024).

  • Bloomberg Philanthropies has also made historic donations to the healthcare profession. Not only did the organization give $1 billion to Johns Hopkins University (Maruf, 2024), it contributed to all four historically Black medical schools: Howard University College of Medicine, Merry Medical College, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine, and Morehouse School of Medicine (Associated Press, 2024; (Bloomberg Philanthropies, 2024).

In addition, Bloomberg Philanthropies (2024) has committed funds to the forthcoming Xavier Ochsner College of Medicine, which was formed as a result of a partnership between Ochsner Health and Xavier University of Louisiana (2024). The Xavier Oschner College of Medicine will become the fifth medical school located at a historically Black college or university (HBCU) (Oschner Health, n.d.). Will Bloomberg support the Maryland College of Osteopathic Medicine, a potential sixth HBCU medical school that is in the works via Morgan State University and Salud Education LLC (Alonso, 2024)? Only time will tell.

Nonprofits, Governments, and Collaboratives Address the Health Professional Shortage

Throughout the U.S., various entities, such as nonprofits, government, and even collaboratives are working diligently to reduce the health professional shortage. In 2020, Kaiser Permanente and the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) created the nonprofit Futuro Health to address California’s shortage of allied health workers (Kaiser Permanente, 2020). Since its inception, the organization has served more than 14,000 individuals via one of its training initiatives (Futuro Health, 2023). Recently the organization received a $10.2 million grant from the Elisabeth C. Deluca Foundation to strengthen the healthcare workforce (Philanthropy News Digest, 2024).

ARPA funds and federal appropriations have led to the creation of the Industry-Driven Healthcare Apprenticeship Program in Missouri, a partnership between the Missouri Chamber Foundation and local employers that trains individuals for careers in healthcare. (Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 2024). In Michigan, funding from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) was used to establish the Futures for Frontliners state scholarship program that provides eligible Michigan residents with a tuition-free education at a community college. While not restricted to any majors, it should be noted that recipients can use the dollars to pursue careers in healthcare (State of Michigan, n.d.)

At the local level, in Detroit, the city’s regional CEO group is focused on preparing people for job opportunities. Through the establishment of a collaborative that mirrors the “city of Detroit’s public-private approach” (Welch, 2024, para. 7), unsurprisingly, the collective will first direct its attention to equipping individuals for careers in healthcare, as opportunities in the field are plentiful now and should remain available in the future (Welch, 2024; Michigan Center for Data and Analytics, 2024a, 2024b).

The increased allocations of resources to ensure individuals are prepared for careers in healthcare suggest there may be interest in reducing and arguably eradicating the health professional worker shortage that we are experiencing and expected to face in the future. It also illustrates a commitment to ensuring people have access to care when it is needed. The noted efforts, and arguably others that have not been mentioned, are impressive and deserving of recognition as a staffed healthcare workforce is critical for the overall functioning of our society.

Jennifer Lawson, Ph.D.
Jennifer Lawson, Ph.D.
Project Director
Jennifer Lawson joined the Johnson Center in May 2024 as a project director. In this role, she is responsible for creating and implementing projects that advance the mission, vision, and values of the organization. She is also an adjunct professor...
References

Adashi, E. Y., O’Mahony, D. P., & Cohen, I. G. (2024). Allied Health Professionals: An ill-afforded national shortage. The American Journal of Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjmed.2024.08.026

Alonso, J. (2024, May 29). Medical College affiliated with Morgan State pushes timeline. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2024/05/29/medical-college-affiliated-morgan-state-pushes-timeline

American Hospital Association. (2022, June 17). Fact sheet: Strengthening the health care workforce. https://www.aha.org/fact-sheets/2021-05-26-fact-sheet-strengthening-health-care-workforce

Associated Press. (2024, August 6). Bloomberg gives $600 million to 4 Black medical schools’ endowments. CNN Business. https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/06/business/bloomberg-black-medical-school-donations/index.html

Bloomberg Philanthropies. (2024, August 6). Bloomberg Philanthropies announces largest-ever gift to the nation’s four historically Black medical schools [Press release]. https://www.bloomberg.org/press/bloomberg-philanthropies-announces-largest-ever-gift-to-the-nations-four-historically-black-medical-schools/

DiMento, M. (2023, July 23). Kenneth and Elaine Langone give $200 million to make medical school tuition free. The Chronicle of Philanthropy. https://www.philanthropy.com/article/kenneth-and-elaine-langone-give-200-million-to-make-medical-school-tuition-free

Futuro Health. (2023). Futuro Health annual report. https://futurohealth.org/wp-content/uploads/pdf/FH-2022-Report.pdf

Kaiser Permanente International. (2020, January 9). New nonprofit Futuro Health will grow a network of health care workers.  https://international.kaiserpermanente.org/blog/2020/01/09/new-nonprofit-futuro-health/

Maruf, R. (2024, July 9). Medical school is now free for most students at this top university after a $1 billion donation. CNN Business. https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/08/business/free-medical-school-tuition/index.html

Michigan Center for Data and Analytics. (2024a). Michigan career outlook through 2032. State of Michigan. https://www.michigan.gov/mcda/-/media/Project/Websites/mcda/reports/2024/Michigan-Career-Outlook-through-2032.pdf?rev=868a5d4b6bdc4c14a08bfdf6eeea5424

Michigan Center for Data and Analytics. (2024b). Michigan’s Hot 50 Job Outlook Through 2032. State of Michigan. https://www.michigan.gov/mcda/-/media/Project/Websites/mcda/reports/2024/Michigan-Hot-50-Job-Outlook-through-2032.pdf?rev=692067ec2ab6412897e5962c9012b785

Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry. (2024, May 24). Industry-Driven Healthcare Apprenticeship program. https://mochamber.com/workforce/industry-driven-healthcare-apprenticeship-program/

Ochsner Health. (n.d.). Xavier Ochsner College of Medicine. https://www.ochsner.org/xocom

Philanthropy News Digest. (2024, September 28). Futuro Health receives $10.2 million for healthcare workforce training. Candid. https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/futuro-health-receives-10.2-million-for-healthcare-workforce-training

Rothenberg, E., & Souza, S. (2024, February 26). Albert Einstein college of medicine to offer free tuition after billion-dollar gift. CNN business. https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/26/business/albert-einstein-college-of-medicine-free-tuition/index.html

State of Michigan. (n.d.). About Future for Frontliners. https://www.michigan.gov/frontliners/about

University of Pennsylvania. (2022, February 14). University of Pennsylvania announces new tuition-free program to recruit, train and deploy nurse practitioners to underserved communities across the U.S. https://www.nursing.upenn.edu/live/news/2094-university-of-pennsylvania-announces-new

Welch, S. (2023, December 14). Regional workforce development effort launches with first focus. Crain’s Detroit Business. https://www.crainsdetroit.com/workforce/deroit-regional-workforce-partnership-launches-focus-health-care-job-talent

Xavier University of Louisiana. (2024, April 29). Xavier Ochsner College of Medicine announces founding dean and location in downtown New Orleans at Benson Tower. https://www.xula.edu/news/2024/04/xavier-ochsner-college-of-medicine-announces-founding-dean-and-location-in-downtown-new-orleans-at-benson-tower.html