NM hospital leaders alert lawmakers to staffing 'crisis'
Hospital executives pleaded with New Mexico lawmakers for financial help Monday, citing a chronic shortage of nurses and $274 million in financial losses amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The size of the local nursing workforce is eroding, the administrators said, as health care providers face hostility at work and in the community, endure the trauma of COVID-19 deaths and weigh more lucrative salaries elsewhere in the country.
"We have an extremely fragile workforce," said Tim Johnsen, senior vice president and chief operating officer for Presbyterian Healthcare Services. "Clearly, this is not a sustainable situation."