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Incentive program improves healthcare
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FarkIn places like Timber Lake and Philip and Faith, the state’s Health Professional Recruitment Incentive Program is making a real difference in the delivery of health care to rural residents.
The incentive program helps nursing homes and health clinics in rural communities recruit and retain nurses and other medical professionals by sharing the cost of a $5,000 bonus to attract qualified workers.
Funded since 2002, last year the program brought 60 medical professionals from seven different specialties to 30 underserved counties in South Dakota. It pays eligible health professionals $5,000 to complete two-year service obligations at approved healthcare facilities.
Department of Health officials say the program has been a very successful recruitment tool for small-town facilities, which face tough competition for a shrinking pool of registered nurses in South Dakota. According to the Department of Labor, the state will need nearly 30 percent more healthcare workers by 2014, while our potential workforce is expected to decrease by 4.4 percent between 2010 and 2025.
And the state’s nursing profession is aging. There are 10,733 actively licensed RNs in the state, and over half of them are 46 years of age or older. In the West River counties of Perkins, Harding and Fall River, the average age of registered nurses is over 50. Many of those nurses are hitting retirement age at the same time the state requires more skilled nursing care.
The incentive recruitment program also applies to dietitians/nutritionists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, paramedics, pharmacists, respiratory therapists, certified medical technologists, medical laboratory technologists and radiologic technologists. The bonus payment is split between the state and the community, with the state paying 50 percent of the incentive for communities more than 2,500 and 75 percent of it for communities 2,500 and fewer. Communities may pay at any time, while the state makes payment only after completion of the obligation.
The program is an efficient and cost-effective way to address one of the many health- care challenges that underserved areas of rural South Dakota are facing.
We applaud the program and encourage all eligible facilities in western South Dakota take advantage of it.
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