ACDIS update: ACDIS poll offers insight into staffing shortages

As the baby boomer generation ages, their movement from active engagement in the workforce to retirement affects a host of profession types and poses serious risks to the nation’s healthcare institutions. Such news has been like a thunder cloud building over the past decade.

The American Nurses Association has said that come 2022 more nursing jobs will be open than in any other profession. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has said that 1.1 million nurses are needed to avoid further shortages, according to the article “Nursing Shortage” by Lisa M. Haddad and Tammy J. Toney-Butler, published on the National Institute of Health website.

In a series of recent ACDIS polls, more than 75% of the 200-plus respondents said they were short staffed on nurses, nearly 50% said their physicians were short staffed, and 54% said their coding departments were short staffed.

According to 2019 Salary Survey results thus far 59.22% of respondents say their ages 50-69 years old. That may be one reason why, according to preliminary survey results, 59.80% of respondents say they plan to hire additional staff in the next 12 months. (Click here to participate in the 27-question survey.)

As the ACDIS team bids a fond retirement farewell to its own CCDS Coordinator Penny Richards after more than 19 years at the company, we feel the bittersweet pinch of this trying circumstance.

Do you feel like your CDI program is short staffed? With all three of CDI feeder professions also feeling the strain of limited workforce, how does your program plan on nurturing and onboarding new employees? Has your CDI program implemented career ladders, step increases, or incentives to keep otherwise retiring staff employed?

Take a look at your current team and determine whether there might be retirement-related opportunities or concerns you might need to take a look at. Let us know how your program plans to handle this concern. Contact ACDIS Editor Linnea Archibald at larchibald@acdis.org.

And don’t forget to participate in ACDIS ongoing online polls. These shared data points often point to interesting industry trends that could help your CDI program.