Institute Report Highlights Workforce Resiliency Efforts at Essential Hospitals

A new Essential Hospitals Institute report details how seven members of America's Essential Hospitals worked to support the development of a stable and resilient workforce that meets patient demands through an action group supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. 

Building Workforce Resiliency at Essential Hospitals highlights the pressing health care workforce shortage and the role essential hospitals play in increasing workforce retention. It provides operational strategies, actionable information, and best practices to recruit, hire, and sustain a workforce that represents the communities essential hospitals serve at all organizational levels.

From March 2025 to February 2026, action group members attended monthly virtual sessions. Topics included:

• Developing measurable workforce goals
• Meaningfully engaging leadership and partners in initiating workforce change
• Building community partnerships to create innovative talent pipelines
• Updating hiring practices that limit opportunity parity
• Engaging staff in the evaluation of patient care practices
• Supporting staff well-being through methods other than compensation

The group also attended a full-day, in-person training at America's Essential Hospitals' office in Washington, D.C., to share practical resources and discuss how to improve employee retention and reduce burnout.

This report features programs from:

• Boston Medical Center
• Broadlawns Medical Center
• Central Health
• NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County
• UI Health
• UVA Health
• Woman's Hospital

The action group detailed in the report is part of the Institute's larger initiative to improve and promote community-integrated health care.