Workforce

Dozens of hospitals and health systems have decided to require COVID-19 vaccination for employees since March. However, some health systems have chosen not to mandate vaccines as of Aug. 6.

The BlueSky Tennessee Institute, a partnership between Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee and East Tennessee State University, has begun accepting applications for enrollment in its inaugural class, The Chattanoogan reported Aug. 5.

Fifty-five state House Republicans in North Carolina have sent a letter to healthcare CEOs urging them to reexamine their decision to require staff to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of employment.

Citing increasing COVID-19 hospitalizations and intensive care unit patients because of the delta variant, the California Department of Public Health issued an order Aug. 5 requiring workers in healthcare to be vaccinated.

Healthcare gained nearly 37,000 jobs in July, with hospitals seeing a month of job gains after losing jobs in June, according to the latest jobs report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

As San Diego-based Scripps Health continues to consider making COVID-19 vaccines mandatory for all employees, it is implementing the requirement for new employees, according to a memo to staff. 

Harris Health System will temporarily close two clinics to boost staffing at its hospitals as COVID-19 cases rise, the Houston-based system confirmed to Becker's.

Vaccine mandates at Durham, N.C.-based Duke University Health System and Chapel Hill, N.C.-based UNC Health resulted in hundreds more vaccinations among their employees.

Job recovery for men in healthcare continues to outpace recovery for their female counterparts. To return to levels before the pandemic, about 24,000 healthcare jobs for men need to return, compared to 470,000 for women, according to an Aug. 2…

As U.S. hospitals deal with more patients, both COVID-19 and non-COVID, some are facing staffing shortages.