TUE AM News: Task Force on the Healthcare Workforce issues recommendations in its final report; Lawsuit filed over $1.75B expansion of I-94 in Milwaukee

August 20, 2024

— The Governor’s Task Force on the Healthcare Workforce is calling for efforts to reduce barriers to training, expand Medicaid, boost incentives for those working in underserved areas and more.

Gov. Tony Evers yesterday announced the task force has issued its final report, which includes a wide array of recommendations for supporting Wisconsin’s health care workforce. He says the plan will bring more workers into the health sector and ensure access to care and a high quality of life.

“Making sure our workforce is prepared to meet the needs of a 21st-century economy is a top priority for me and must be a top priority for our state, including the State Legislature, and I look forward to working together and considering these recommendations in the next biennial budget,” he said in the release.

The advisory plan comes as Wisconsin is facing a “bleak future” for the health care workforce, according to Department of Workforce Development Secretary Amy Pechacek. She notes the state could be short up to 19,000 registered nurses by 2040 with nearly 32,000 annual job openings across health care populations through 2030.

To bolster the state’s educational framework for the field, the task force is recommending expanding incentive programs for health educators and boosting compensation for these faculty, which is usually lower than what health practitioners make.

The report also urges expanding simulation learning tools to give students more practical experience, increasing the size of training grants, and providing more state funding for apprenticeships.

Report authors also note expanding Medicaid would save the state an estimated $1.6 billion over two years, which could be allocated to Medicaid rate increases for hospitals and other health care employers. Plus, expanding Medicaid could encourage more workforce participation among health care workers who “sometimes limit hours of employment to retain public benefits,” they wrote.

The report also calls for rate increases for home and community-based services to better help the state’s aging population and those with disabilities, as well as behavioral health services rate increases.

Several recommendations are related to getting more medical professionals educated outside of Wisconsin into the workforce, including internationally educated health care providers and those certified in other states. While the state has entered multi-state licensing compacts for nursing, medicine and psychology, the report notes, it has yet to do so for social workers, dieticians and other professions.

“There’s a lot of other compacts that we can look at within Wisconsin, with other states as well,” Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez said yesterday during an online press conference. “We are in compacts with quite a few, but if you’re looking at behavioral health, or if you’re looking at social work, those types of compacts that are just starting, as well as … paramedic training, that is something that we can look at more broadly.”

Between March and August, the 25-person task force held meetings in Green Bay, La Crosse, Madison, and Milwaukee, where members received briefings from domain experts and other resources as they crafted their suggestions.

Along with the recommendations grouped into 10 focus areas, the 73-page report also includes analysis on the current state of Wisconsin’s health care workforce. It highlights the challenges of rural health care access, the high cost of health care education, recruitment hurdles in postsecondary education and burnout among health professionals.

See the guv’s release.

— GOP Sens. Rachael Cabral-Guevara and Pat Testin, the chair and vice-chair of the Senate Health Committee, said there were some worthwhile proposals in the health care workforce plan.

But they knocked Evers for refusing to take a more bipartisan approach to the issue, noting he vetoed bills this session such as one that would’ve sought to allow those nurses with advanced credentials to work independently of doctors.

“Whether it’s supporting our nurses, telehealth or funding our rural hospitals, the governor has continued to play politics rather than do what is best for patients and providers,” Testin, R-Stevens Point, said.

For more of the most relevant health care news, reports on groundbreaking research in Wisconsin, links to top stories and more, sign up today for the free daily Health Care Report from WisPolitics and WisBusiness.com.

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— Midwest Environmental Advocates and Legal Action of Wisconsin have filed a lawsuit challenging a $1.75 billion effort to expand the I-94 in Milwaukee over concerns it would negatively impact residents of color.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Milwaukee Inner City Congregations Allied for Hope, Milwaukee Riverkeeper, Sierra Club – Wisconsin Chapter, and 1000 Friends of Wisconsin, argues the Federal Highway Administration and state Department of Transportation failed to consider an alternative to expanding the interstate highway that would have utilized public transportation and addressed safety and operational concerns.

The plaintiffs also argue they did not weigh or seek to reduce potential disproportionate harm to nonwhite Milwaukeeans.

DOT’s Office of Public Affairs in a statement said the project “is expected to improve safety and replace the aging infrastructure.”

“Public involvement and community engagement is a critical part of any WisDOT project, including the I-94 East-West project,” the statement said. “We continue to actively work with community members and stakeholders to understand their concerns and minimize any impacts to the community. We are proud of the work we’ve done to this point and remain committed to delivering effective transportation solutions for the people of Wisconsin.”

Rev. Richard Shaw, president of MICAH, said the project is in one of the most racially segregated metropolitan areas in the country and noted an ongoing federal civil rights investigation.

“Moving forward with the project before federal authorities have concluded their investigation is completely inconsistent with the state’s obligation to protect the civil rights of impacted local residents,” Shaw said.

The I-94 will be widened from six to eight lanes between 16th and 70th Streets under the expansion plan. The DOT website notes it anticipates “very few impacts to private residences and limited impact to businesses along the corridor.”

Cheryl Nenn of Milwaukee Riverkeeper said the project would boost traffic, air, noise and water pollution on top of flooding problems, disproportionately harming nearby Black and Latino communities.

“This, together with the worsening imbalance between highway expansions and the decline of public transit services, exacerbates impacts to communities of color,” Nenn said.

— WARF is seeking commercial partners to help develop a new method for identifying the sex of cannabis seeds, which could give growers greater insight and control over their crops.

The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation highlighted the sorting method as a top licensing prospect within its food and agriculture portfolio, noting it can boost “the grower’s commercial return while saving time and resources.”

The cannabis plant, grown for marijuana cultivation, has male and female variants. An overview on the technology from WARF notes female plants go to seed “much faster, destroying the lucrative crop” of buds and flowers in the presence of both sexes. Male plants are also important for seed production, the document shows.

“As it stands, existing methods for sexing cannabis plants are time-consuming and not scalable,” authors wrote. “This invention introduces the capability to sex cannabis seed on a larger scale in an easier and inexpensive manner.”

Created by UW-Madison Prof. Shawn Kaeppler, the “higher throughput” sorting method uses fluorescent detection to identify a marker gene on the Y chromosome to determine sex. Separating fluorescent seeds and pollen from the non-fluorescent ones allows growers to control the ratio of male to female plants in their operations.

Current methods for achieving this include hormone treatments, DNA sequencing and culling unwanted plants, according to WARF.

“Compared to standard methodology of seed sorting, which often demands more resources and is not as efficient, this technology is less labor intensive, easily scalable and inexpensive,” authors wrote.

— Port officials in Green Bay report a 7% decline in year-to-date shipping totals as last year’s mild winter impacted the amount of salt moving through the port.

Port of Green Bay Director Dean Haen says that trend was expected.

“It makes sense that we’re seeing that reflected as a slight decrease in our overall totals,” he said in a release. “Barring any new, unforeseen challenges, we’re expecting our other commodities to maintain a consistent pace.”

The port’s latest tonnage update shows July saw 229,004 tons move through the port, bringing the year-to-date total to 864,628 tons. A total of 84 ships have entered the port so far this shipping season, compared to 81 ships at this point last year.

The top cargo category in July was limestone, followed by cement, salt, petroleum products, coal and wood pulp.

See more details in the release.

— Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce and Johnson Financial Group are taking nominations for the next Coolest Thing Made in Wisconsin contest.

WMC yesterday announced the launch of the ninth annual contest, with nominations being accepted through Sept. 6. From there, organizers will hold a popular vote to identify the top 16 products, which will then go head-to-head in a bracket-style tournament. Any product made in the state qualifies for the competition.

“This contest highlights not only the cool products made in our state, but also the entrepreneurship and work behind each product,” WMC President and CEO Kurt Bauer said in the release.

This year’s winner will be announced Oct. 17 at WMC’s Business Day in Madison event.

See the release and more contest details.

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