Lawmakers hear about workforce solutions being created for the healthcare industry and more through Talent Pipeline Management

In a meeting of the Interim Joint Committee on Health, Welfare, and Family Services at the Kentucky State Fair Thursday, Kentucky Chamber Foundation Workforce Center Executive DirectorLaKisha Miller detail the successes seen by the organization’s Talent Pipeline Management Program (TPM®️) and efforts that have helped to create a stronger alignment between education and the needs of Kentucky employers. 

In partnership with the Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet, TPM®️ has developed a network of over 300 employers across many of Kentucky’s key and signature industries. Miller explained that in the four years of the program, TPM®️ has helped to connect over 4,000 Kentuckians to jobs and training opportunities.

“Our goal is to help employers become more efficient and effective at determining their most critical workforce needs, evaluating the skills needed for these in-demand positions, and facilitate a process to communicate these needs to improve the performance of industry talent pipelines across the state,” Miller said.

Specifically, in the healthcare industry, she said TPM®️ has worked to convene a diverse pool of over 70 employers ranging from hospitals to long-term care facilities, bringing alignment to help expand healthcare pipelines across the state. 

Through the TPM®️ process, employers identified a two-year demand for more than 1,800 registered nurses. As employers reviewed the many barriers that contributed to the nursing shortage, they found that nursing students could not complete their programs due to a lack of clinical rotation sites. To address this barrier, TPM® employers, education partners, and the Kentucky Chamber Foundation’s Workforce Center developed a partnership with CastleBranch, a clinical scheduling software, to standardize the scheduling process and increase the availability of more rotation sites for nursing students. Miller stated this workforce solution has helped more than 1,600 nursing students to date.

“Our Eastern Kentucky healthcare collaborative realized, through TPM®️’s data collection process, that their nursing shortage became exasperated due to many nursing students finding it difficult to complete school. Some barriers identified included childcare issues, food security, and transportation. With this knowledge, the Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program (EKCEP) partnered with TPM®️ to apply for a Department of Labor grant to create the Healthcare Pathways Partnership Program; to expand support services for healthcare careers in the region. EKCEP was awarded a $2.5M grant and has served over 862 individuals,” Miller said.

Last year, TPM®️ created a statewide healthcare advisory council to align healthcare efforts across the state. This advisory council is comprised of TPM®️ employers, hospitals and long-term care facilities, state partners, and healthcare associations. This group has recently identified the State Registered Nurse Aide (SRNA) shortage as a top priority and is working on expanding programs and pipelines statewide.

Several groups testified on programs related to workforce shortages in the health care industry and Committee Chair Kim Moser encouraged groups to work together to continue addressing challenges.