Certified nursing assistant Aimee Barnes talks to a patient at Community Hospital's Monticello House in Anderson.

ATLANTA — A shortage of health care workers has state officials concerned enough to set aside funding to help rural providers recruit employees. 

Georgia is among the top three states with the highest number of job vacancies in the U.S., particularly in the health care field.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the job openings rate in Georgia was 7.5% in March 2023, or 395,000, compared to the 5.8% rate nationally in March.

Particularly in Georgia, the arts, entertainment and recreation sectors reported the highest rate of vacancies in the state as of April 2023 at 8.9%, with health care and social assistance right behind at 8.2%.

“Healthcare facilities across Georgia face numerous challenges when it comes to healthcare professional recruitment, especially in rural areas. A shortage of properly trained medical staff is dangerous for rural communities that are often hours away from large hospitals,” said state Sen. Bo Hatchett, who was recently appointed to the newly established Senate Study Committee on Rural Medical Personnel Recruitment. “As a senator from rural Georgia, I have seen firsthand the negative impacts that a lack of healthcare personnel can have on the health and wellness of families located outside of metro areas in our state.”

State lawmakers approved the creation of the Senate Study Committee on Rural Medical Personnel Recruitment this session which aims to raise awareness of the obstacles faced by rural hospitals to recruit an adequate work force and retain their surgical personnel.

This session lawmakers also added $3.1 million to the upcoming 2024 budget for loan repayment programs for health providers practicing in rural areas and educating future providers, such as physicians, physician assistants and advanced practice registered nurses, along with new nursing faculty programs.

Other items included in the budget to boost the state’s health care workforce include:

• $850,000 for a new mental health professionals program
• $4 million to hospitals starting graduate medical education residency programs for one-time grants of up to $1 million for hospitals with GME programs to fund medical education training equipment and infrastructure needs to support new and expanding residency programs
• $10 million to the Georgia Student Finance Commission to create a service cancelable loan program for Georgians enrolled in eligible behavioral health programs.
• $2 million for 116 new residency slots for primary care medicine
• $1 million to increase the medical school class size at Morehouse School of Medicine
• More than $580,000 for child and adolescent psychiatry and maternal fetal medicine fellowships at the Medical College of Georgia
• $240,000 for the start-up of a new rural OB/GYN training program

The 2024 budget, which starts July 1, estimates a 7.4% increase, or $2.2 billion, over the original FY 2023 budget. While nearly a quarter of the budget, $32.4 billion, is allocated to the states’s health and human services agencies, Georgia Democrats argue that it’s not enough, referencing items vetoed from the budget by Gov. Brian Kemp.

Among the vetoed items was funding for crisis centers across the state, an initiative Democrats say could help prevent mass shooting tragedies amid the mental health crisis in Georgia and the country. 

“Cutting critical services in the midst of a mental healthcare crisis while our state is experiencing significant gun violence is a political catastrophe,” Georgia House Minority Leader James Beverly said. “Georgians deserve to live in a state where their health and wellness are valued and protected.”

“Governor Brian Kemp’s decision to veto crucial mental health funding in the state budget reflects a regrettable prioritization of political theatrics over the well-being and care of the people of Georgia,” added state Rep. Shelly Hutchinson, D—106. “This unfortunate choice undermines the urgent need for comprehensive mental health support and sends a disheartening message to those struggling with mental health issues.”

Lawmakers in both the House and Senate agreed to allocate more than $7 million in the state budget to operate a 24-bed and 16-bed temporary observation chair behavioral crisis center at Serenity Behavioral Health Systems in Augusta, more than $6.6 million for 24-bed and 16-bed temporary observation chair behavioral crisis center in Fulton County, and more than $10.8 million to convert a crisis stabilization unit in Dublin to a 24-bed and 16-bed temporary observation chair behavioral crisis center.

“Each budget should reflect a similar and appropriate staffing ratio based on utilization of each facility,” Kemp said in his veto statement. “Therefore, the agency is directed to utilize the crisis capacity study and continue to provide services based upon the projected utilization while ensuring equity across providers.”

While health care is just one of the areas experiencing work force shortages, state lawmakers also included budget incentives in public safety and education to help with retention and recruitment: 

Public safety

• A medical examiner loan repayment program for medical examiners employed by the GBI, providing up to $120,000 in loan repayment over five years
• $3.2 million to establish a law enforcement loan repayment program, providing up to $20,000 in loan repayment over five years
• $23.5 million for pay increases of $4,000 for more than 3,900 law enforcement officers across 12 state agencies
• $4.9 million to enhance GBI operations and staffing to reduce its highest backlogged areas including chemistry, firearms and toxicology
• $5.4 million for the GBI to create and staff a cold case specialty unit to investigate the over 600 unsolved cold cases under its purview
• $1.1 million to fund salary increases for circuit public defenders; $3.4 million for recruitment and retention of assistant district attorneys and assistant public defenders

Education 

• $295 million to increase the state base salary schedule for certified teacher and employees by $2,000 ($5,000 had previously been added to teacher salaries since FY 2020)
• $8.5 million for a 5.1% pay raise for school nutrition workers, bus drivers, school nurses and $8.6 million to provide all school custodians with a $1,000 salary adjustment
• In the Technology/Career Education program, the FY 2024 budget includes $711,000 for construction industry certification to improve career path placements, teacher recruitment and retention and program alignment with elementary and middle schools