Gov. Hobbs launches special task force to address healthcare workforce shortages

Governor Katie Hobbs is launching a special task force to address the state’s growing need for physicians and nurses.

Rural areas across Arizona are especially feeling the need right now.

“For us, it’s probably we are… patients are waiting about three weeks to see a primary care provider,” said Wickenburg Community Hospital and Clinics President/CEO Jackie Lundblad.

For Wickenburg Community Hospital and Clinics, which serves 3,300 square miles, specialty doctors are in ultra-high demand.

The need is so great, that flying them in from out-of-state is the only option.

“So for instance, I fly in a hand surgeon every other week from Denver,” said Lundblad. “And I also fly in another orthopedic surgeon out of Modesto, CA.”

“We expect to have about a gap of 4,000 physicians that we need in Arizona by 2032,” said Libby De Bie, the chief executive officer at the Arizona Medical Association.

Every county in Arizona has a shortage of primary care physicians and it's the worst in rural areas.

To tackle the issue, Hobbs is launching a broad workforce initiative called Talent Ready AZ that will include a working group on healthcare.

Hobbs is also requiring that at least 1% of federal grants to the state go toward workforce development.

“They are really looking to bring in stakeholders across all of the state agencies to address this from a comprehensive perspective,” said De Bie.

Healthcare providers in Wickenburg rely on nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and telehealth to get by with fewer doctors. They say easing some regulations might help more.

For their patients, it may be a matter of life and death.

“We see this is in our more rural parts of our service area where they just wait so long to get any healthcare, that by the time they actually seek help, they’re in a really bad state,” said Lundblad.

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