Workforce

The U.S. Labor Department released new COVID-19 workplace safety rules for healthcare June 10, including a requirement that healthcare employers provide workers with paid time off to get vaccinated and to recover from side effects.

The University of Maryland Medical System and Johns Hopkins Medicine, both based in Baltimore, will require employees to be vaccinated for COVID-19, making them the latest health systems to do so. 

The advisory board for Oregon State Hospital was unaware of the seriousness of a staffing shortage that forced the hospital to ask for help from the National Guard, according to the Salem Reporter.

Some employees at Penn Medicine Lancaster (Pa.) General Health are petitioning against a COVID-19 vaccine mandate, according to LancasterOnline. 

Employees who receive automated emails and letters with personalized feedback on their cafeteria purchases may choose healthier food, according to a new study published June 7 in JAMA Network Open. 

The U.S. saw a record high of 9.3 million job openings since the Bureau of Labor Statistics started tracking job openings in December 2000. There were 998,000 new jobs added in April as workforce shortages at hospitals and health systems…

Houston Methodist employees had a deadline of June 7 at midnight to get the COVID-19 vaccine as part of the health system's mandate. The count as of June 8: Nearly 100 percent compliance with 24,947 workers being fully vaccinated.

Phoenix-based Banner Health said it has more than 800 job openings in Arizona and about 300 job openings in Colorado.

Executives at Memorial Hospital-Belleville (Ill.), a BJC HealthCare hospital, realized they needed a new approach to attracting and retaining employees a few years ago and took action.

Thirty National Guard members will begin their training at Oregon State Hospital's main campus in Salem June 7 to help reduce workforce strain while staff members are on leave for reasons related to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a hospital…