Gov. Andy Beshear mobilized the Kentucky National Guard to help 25 hospitals that had staff shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic. A House bill would create education scholarships for people who pursue health care careers in the state. (Photo by Jon Cherry/Getty Images)
A Kentucky bill drafted to address the state’s health care workforce shortages easily passed a House committee Thursday.
The bill, which has bipartisan support, sailed out of the House Standing Committee on Health Services with 18 yes votes and one pass. No one voted against the bill. It now goes to the House floor.
House Bill 200 seeks to create a health care workforce fund with private-public partnership administered by the Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE), the Lantern previously reported.
Most of the money in the fund – 65% – would be reserved for educational scholarships for folks who want to pursue a health care career. The other 35% would be reserved for incentive prizes.
Kentucky’s well-documented nursing shortage only worsened over the last few years because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill addresses not only shortages among nurses but other health care professionals, including mental health care workers and emergency medical services providers.
Primary sponsor Rep. Ken Fleming, R-Louisville, called the private-public partnership laid out by his bill an “innovative, creative” approach to the problem.
Fleming also wants scholarship money to support underprivileged areas, he said, specifically mentioning Eastern Kentucky The bill also says the money may be used to “improve racial and ethnic diversity within a specific designated healthcare credential.”
Dr. Aaron Thompson, the president of CPE, told legislators the fund is a sustainable way to address the health care workforce shortages in the coming years. He also said it’s an equitable approach.
The bill will not receive funding this year, Fleming previously said, since the budget won’t be opened. It will rather establish a “framework,” he said, for the future.
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Sarah Ladd
Sarah Ladd is a Louisville-based journalist from West Kentucky who's covered everything from crime to higher education. She spent nearly two years on the metro breaking news desk at The Courier Journal. In 2020, she started reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic and has covered health ever since. As the Kentucky Lantern's health reporter, she focuses on mental health, LGBTQ+ issues, children's welfare, COVID-19 and more.
Kentucky Lantern is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
