Healthcare's Workforce Crisis Demands Radical, Reasoned Responses

In the spring issue of Frontiers of Health Services Management, healthcare leaders shared their digital strategies, many of which responded to the pandemic's challenges. However, technology is not a panacea for workforce shortages and challenges. Technology is spurring new healthcare roles and occupations and stoking the demand for new skills and competencies.

Recognizing that digital innovation can exacerbate our talent concerns, this issue of Frontiers explores those concerns in the context of the Great Resignation. No matter how digital strategies are deployed in healthcare, people will be the key. Even a perfunctory survey of statements of operating revenue and expenditure clarifies the importance of workforce issues—the largest percentage of total expense is labor. So much of what matters and what healthcare carefully measures, from quality to patient and employee outcomes, depends on people. And smart healthcare leaders are acting accordingly.