LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Doug Geinzer may be new to the position of CEO of the Southern Nevada Medical Industry Coalition (SNMIC), but he’s well-versed in the not-for-profit organization, as he’s been involved with it since its inception eight years ago.

SNMIC exists to provide a collective voice to improve access and delivery of quality health care in Southern Nevada by fostering strategic alliances in the health care community, collaborating on human resource issues, and by acting as a proactive force for legislative improvements.

“The work with SNMIC melds my passion for health care and education,” Geinzer said. “I volunteered for eight years, chaired the recruitment task force for seven years, was a member of the board of directors for four years and began as the chairman of the board 18 months ago. Having experience in all aspects of the organization will be helpful as I step into the role of CEO.”

Because of his experience, Geinzer has his sights set on goals firmly in place. An important objective to Geinzer is to elevate the presence of health care in Southern Nevada while working on development and “growing our own talent here in Southern Nevada,” he said. “We’ve been importing it.”

Education is at the forefront as Geinzer was the founder and former president of Recruiting Nevada, which attracts jobseekers mainly focused on the education and medical fields to Nevada. SNMIC’s membership and sponsorship development also are high on his list along with creating a politically unified voice for the health care industry in order to influence people and change policy.

“We have been working toward these goals for eight years,” Geinzer said. “Now it’s time to make it all happen.”

Geinzer is a member of the Society of Human Resource Management, Nevada Hospital Association and the Nevada Healthcare Association. He also serves on the board of directors for the American Heart Association and is an active committee member of the Governor’s Workforce Investment Board and the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce Business Council. Geinzer founded the Las Vegas chapter of the Entrepreneur’s Association and served as a board member for five years.

Founded in 2002, SNMIC is a volunteer organization committed to improving the quality of life for the residents of Southern Nevada now and in the future. SNMIC stands as a collective voice to ensure improved access and delivery of quality health care to the rapidly growing region and focuses on legislative improvements, human resources and strategic alliances.

For more information on SNMIC, visit www.snmic.com.

University of Nevada Reno, Orvis School of Nursing, has reached capacity again and is looking to double their enrollment.  When this is completed, it is expected that the new UNR facility will ease the nursing shortfall.  Northern Nevada is not unique in this capacity problem.  Southern Nevada faces the same issue.  And pretty much every nursing program in the State of Nevada is at capacity as we lack sufficient clinical space.

“Growing our own” is surely the best route to go for Nevada.  We have lacked in our production of registered nurses over the year.  To put some perspective to this….back in the late 1990s when we first started focusing on the nursing shortage, Nevada was graduating some 332 registered nurses each year.  The problem was we needed over 800 to fulfill our needs.  So we had to go out-of-market to attract nurses to relocate.  This is how Recruiting Nevada came about.

However, we knew that we needed to increase Nevada’s home-grown supply of registered nurses.  So we lobbied the Nevada Legislature to double the nursing program.  That happened 3 sessions later and between the public nursing schools and the privates, Nevada now graduates around 1,000 registered nurses each year.

We are well on our way to a sustainable recruiting solution for registered nurses in Nevada.  There still are some changes that need to happen in clinical scheduling to increase (and optimize) overall capacity.  Several groups are working on that problem as we speak.  Kudos to UNR for their expected growth and contribution to the overall wealth and health of Nevada.

Experts say nurses are leading a trend toward more organized labor in the medical setting — mostly in hospitals.

A recently published article in American Medical News discusses the increased number of unions in hospitals. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of medical personnel covered by some form of collective bargaining agreement or registered as union members is edging up. This is partly because the health care sector now employs many more people than do traditionally unionized industries such as manufacturing.

Original article

Online job ads for health care practitioners and technicians grew by 3,300 listing in April for a total of 630,000 listings, a level of demand not seen since the recession began two years ago, the Conference Board reports.

The report, which tracks more than 1,000 online job boards across the United States, also notes that the demand for health care support occupations has remained relatively strong throughout the recession and grew by 2,400 listings in April, to 128,700 listings, the highest monthly level since the HWOL series began in May 2005. Increases in this field reflect the continued strong demand for workers in occupations like occupational and physical therapists and nursing aids, the report said.

Demand in the health care labor market varies substantially from the higher-paying practitioner and technical jobs to the lower-paying support occupations. In April, advertised vacancies for health care practitioners or technical occupations outnumbered the unemployed looking for work in this field by 4 to 1, and the average wage in these occupations is $32.64/hour, the report said. The average wage for health care support occupations is $12.66/hour and there were more than two unemployed people looking for work in the field for every advertised vacancy, the report said.

Original article by John Commins, for HealthLeaders Media.

Interesting article discussing opportunities for new nursing graduates to start their careers at long-term care facilities because they are unable to find nursing jobs in acute care facilities. Some long term care facilities in California are reaching out to these graduates with specific training programs.Nurses tend to work more when the economy is bad. And things are no different in the current economic downturn. Rather than retiring, they are returning to work in acute care settings and even taking on extra shifts.

This is good for hospitals, with national vacancy rates hovering in the 2-4 percent range, but not so good for new nursing grads looking for their first jobs in the same acute care settings. Hence, many are calling for newly graduated registered nurses to consider long-term care as the place to begin their careers.

But while leadership at some LTC facilities are embracing the scenario as an opportunity to recruit graduate RNs, are the industry – and the new grads – ready?

Deloras Jones, MSN, RN, for one, believes they are. Long-term care offers a potential training ground for new nursing graduates, she said, and she is working to develop programs that do just that. More specifically, Jones, executive director of the California Institute for Nursing & Health Care, has been working throughout California to develop transitional residency programs for new nursing grads unable to find positions in acute care.

Toward that end, Country Villa Health Services, owner of a chain of 50 long-term care facilities in California, has a program designed specifically for new grads. The 21-day internship gradually introduces new RNs to the chain’s “resident first” culture as it ensures they have the skills necessary to care for them. “We hire the best candidates, and in some facilities that means new grads,” said Cindy Pavelka, RN, director of education. The new grad internship is broken down into step-by-step instructions, she said, with a test at the end of each day. “They don’t move forward until they can show they’ve learned the information from each day.”

Deborah Kania, RN, administrative director, Sutter Oaks Nursing Center, Sacramento, said LTC has long had difficulty recruiting and retaining RNs. “There is a stigma that long-term care is unpleasant,” Kania said. “But today’s long-term care is far different from the nursing homes of the past. Your skills as a nurse have to be particularly crisp to work in this environment.

Read the entire article from Advance for Nurses here
By Candy Goulette

The health care  industry is still adding jobs, but uncertainty around health system reform and budget cuts are causing deceleration.

According to the monthly help wanted advertising report issued by the Conference Board , the number of listings for health care practitioners and technicians decreased by 30,000 in February, falling to 537,000. This was primarily driven by declines in the number of ads for occupational therapists, physical therapists and general internists. Ads for health care support personnel  also went down by 8,600, to 110,700.

Experts suspect, however, that not all of the advertising decline can be attributed to hiring reductions. Some institutions may have forced to reduce their recruiting expenses by using low- or no-cost tools only. 

Article from American Medical News

If you want to read a very information article on Nevada being Down and Out:  Salary and job outlook for Nevadans goes from bad to worse with little relief in sight….take the time to read the article written by Jennifer Robison from the Las Vegas Review Journal.  Basically, only two industries saw job growth in the past two years.  Others took massive hits.  Check out the below:

• Natural Resources and Mining:  +400
• Construction:  -36,400
• Manufacturing:  -4,400
• Trade, Transportation and Utilities:  -18,200
• Information:  -1,200
• Financial Activities:  -5,200
• Professional and Business Services:  -15,600
• Education and Health Services:  4,900
• Leisure and Hospitality:  -28,600
• Government:  -5,300

All I have to say is…..Eds & Meds, Eds & Meds, Eds & Meds.

Let’s be frank: 
Our employees do a bad job of taking care of themselves.  And the less they do, the more it costs our organizations.  And, at the end of the day, employers pay the piper for their bad behavior, eating habits, lack of exercise and everything health related.  Our insurance premiums go up and employee healthiness goes down. 

I have been involved in a non-profit organization that tackles this issue every day.  Southern Nevada Medical Industry Coalition, commonly referred to as SNMIC, advocates for quality health care in Southern Nevada through collaboration with public and private organizations, concerned citizens and healthcare professionals. 

We have several hundred volunteer members working on one of several task forces:  Recruitment, Retention, Education, Strategic Alliances and Legislative.  Their accomplishments are impressive to say the least.  It is hard to quantify the amount of money this group has saved our community but I can assure you it is in the millions. 

SNMIC is hosting a Spring Healthcare Forum & Expo that would be well worth your attending.  Obviously, the forum will be focused around healthcare.  But more importantly, around topics of what we (employers) can do to help improve the quality of health care in Southern Nevada.  Each one of our task forces will provide a brief update as to their recent accomplishments and what they are currently working on.  We will also have a forum discussion moderated by Jon Ralston.  Members of that panel will include Dr. Joe Hardy (State Senate Candidate and current Nevada Assemblyman), State Senator Allison Copening and State Senator Valerie Weiner. 

I hope you are able to attend.  Here are some details:

Spring Healthcare Forum & Expo
When:  Wednesday, April 7, 2010, 5:30-8:30
Where:  Cili at Bali Hai Golf Club
Cost:  Free
RSVP: Online Registration

If you would like to download a PDF Flyer and share it with colleagues, please do so.  This event is open to the public.

The number of licensed registered nurses (RNs) in the United States grew to a new high of 3.1 million between 2004 and 2008 according to a report released this week by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). This increase of more than 5 percent also reflects growing diversity in the backgrounds of nurses in the United States.

Unfortunately, Nevada does show up as second lowest in the number of employed RNs to population ratio. The lowest numbers of employed RNs per 100,000 population were in Utah (598), Nevada (618), and California (638); while the largest numbers were in the District of Columbia (1,868), South Dakota (1,333), and North Dakota (1,273)

Published every four years by HRSA’s Bureau of Health Professions, the National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses is the preeminent source of statistics on trends over time for the nation’s largest health profession.

The survey found that the RN workforce is gradually becoming more diverse. In 2008, 16.8 percent of nurses were Asian, Black/African-American, American Indian/Alaska Native, and/or Hispanic; an increase from 12.2 percent in 2004. The two largest groups represented were non-Hispanic Asian (5.5 percent) and non-Hispanic Black/African- American (5.4 percent).

Additional initial findings include:

    * Half (50 percent) of RNs have achieved a baccalaureate or higher degree in nursing or a nursing-related field in 2008, this is compared to 27.5 percent in 1980.

    * The number of RNs with master’s or doctorate degrees rose to 404,163 in 2008, an increase of 46.9 percent from 2004, and up from 85,860 in 1980.

    * The average age of all licensed RNs increased to 47.0 years in 2008 from 46.8 in 2004; this represents a stabilization after many years of continuing large increases in average age.

    * Nearly 45 percent of RNs were 50 years of age or older in 2008, a dramatic increase from 33 percent in 2000 and 25 percent in 1980.

    * Average annual earnings for RNs in 2008 were $66,973. RNs’ salaries rose almost 15.9 percent since 2004, which slightly outpaced inflation.

    * An estimated 444,668 RNs received their first U.S. license over the period from 2004 to 2008.

 The report, The Registered Nurse Population: Initial Findings from the 2008 National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses, was sent to 55,171 nurses with active RN licenses, with representation from all 50 States and the District of Columbia. A final report with the complete findings will be published in summer 2010.

HRSA, part of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary Federal agency providing policy leadership and grant support for health professions workforce development – helping to ensure the United States has the right clinicians, with the right skills, working where they are needed.

HRSA press release

Congrats go out to Chris Vito, a good friend and fellow colleague, on his recent U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Small Business Person of the Year award.  Chris is President/CEO of Nevada Adult Day Healthcare Centers.   Nevada Adult Day Care provides an organized program of services during the day in a group setting for the purpose of supporting the personal independence of older adults and promoting their social, physical, and emotional well-being.

Chris thanks for all that you do for this community and for the Southern Nevada Medical Industry Coalition.