Corewell Health made improvements in the second half of the year to reduce reliance on high-cost travel nursing agencies to make up for staff shortages, he said, noting that health systems also achieve critical staffing and productivity efficiencies. Corewell Health has approximately 7,000 open positions statewide.
Cox said the health system is still using temporary nurses to close the gap, even as the pandemic has subsided and it attracts permanent talent.
“Things are definitely not back to pre-pandemic levels, but they are moving in the right direction,” he said.
To address the nursing shortage, Corewell Health last spring committed $19 million in grants to increase the talent pool for nurses who earned degrees at Grand Valley State University. Under the scholar program, the health system is supporting up to 500 more students for six years at GVSU Kirkhof College of Nursing.
In forming the partnership with GVSU, Corewell “delivered a solution that would help provide more nurses in Michigan,” Cox said.
Priority Health has $5.88 billion in premium revenue in 2022 and recorded $56 million in operating income, with a 0.9% margin.
Cox noted in its financial statements that Priority Health operating income was $77.6 million lower than originally planned for 2022. and rebounded in the fourth quarter due to respiratory illness and flu.” Cox wrote in the report. The trend towards pharmacies for Medicare members is also high, he added.
From MiBiz.
