UW Health announced Thursday the creation of WorkForward, a new nonprofit organization that is designed to bolster the national health care workforce.
WorkForward is the first employer-based intermediary in health care, and will work with employers, educators, governing bodies and other organizations around shared workforce development goals.
The nonprofit will guide and support efforts to build and scale approaches to health care workforce development.
The National Center for Health Workforce Analysis predicts shortages across the health care workforce by 2038, including 141,160 physicians, 108,960 registered nurses, 60,610 physical therapists, 30,400 pharmacists and 12,770 respiratory therapists.
“People want to work in health care, or grow in their health care careers, and health systems want to hire and support talented people; they just need the right coordination and infrastructure,” Bridgett Willey, executive director and chief operating officer of WorkForward, said in a statement. “That’s what WorkForward is designed to provide.”
WorkForward will consult and partner with health care employers, K-12 and post-secondary educators, federal and state apprenticeship agencies and others.
