Evers signs executive order creating healthcare workforce task force

APPLETON, Wis. (Civic Media) – Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers signed an executive order on Monday that officially creates a task force for the state’s healthcare workforce.

The Governor’s Task Force on the Healthcare Workforce will be chaired by Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, who is a registered nurse and has a master’s degree in both nursing and public health.

According to a release by the Governor’s office, the task force will focus on recruitment and retention, improving patient care, and finding ways to increase educational opportunities for people interested in health care careers.

BREAKING: This morning, I signed an executive order to create our new Healthcare Workforce Task Force and appointed @LGSaraRodriguez as its chair.
 
It's the Year of the Worker, Wisconsin, and our healthcare heroes and this industry need our support perhaps now more than ever. pic.twitter.com/rpVtELw1Wj

— Governor Tony Evers (@GovEvers) January 29, 2024

“Wisconsin faces a potential deficit of 20,000 nurses by 2040—a figure that paints a concerning picture for the future of one of our most relied-upon industries,” Evers said in a release. “Making sure our workforce is prepared to meet the needs of a 21st-century economy is a top priority for me and must be a top priority for our state, including the Legislature.”

Rodriguez will lead the administration’s task force as its chairperson.

“As a nurse and public health professional myself, the opportunity to lead this new task force is one that I am excited to take on, but I don’t take it lightly,” Rodriguez said in a release. “As leader of this new task force, we will work to focus on ways we can not only bring more qualified, talented workers to our state but keep them here, too.”

Other members of the task force will include the state’s secretaries from the Department of Workforce Development and the Department of Health Services or their designees, as well as others appointed from local governments, Tribal Nations, healthcare professionals and other groups.

Evers first announced that he was creating the task force during last week’s State of the State address.

Evers, Rodriguez, DWD Secretary Amy Pechacek, and DHS Secretary Kirsten Johnson were in Appleton at Fox Valley Technical College to introduce the executive order. Evers, Pechacek and Johnson then visited Gateway Technical College in Kenosha and Southwest Technical College in Fennimore. Rodriguez went to the Medical College of Wisconsin-Central Wisconsin in Wausau and Sauk Prairie Hospital in Prairie du Sac to round out Monday’s statewide tour.

The Evers administration said that the state is facing a shortage of 20,000 nurses by 2040 if nothing is done to address the issue. In his proposed 2023-25 biennial budget, Evers had allocated $100 million towards health care education and career support, but it was left out of the final budget signed into law last year.