TEMPE, AZ — The Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR) has announced a university-led statewide effort to address shortages in the healthcare workforce.
The shortage has impacted physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals.
There are nearly three million Arizonans who have limited access to primary care while more than one in three Arizona hospitals face critical staffing shortages, according to ABOR.
The board is allocating $30 million to support the development of this initiative that will see AZ Healthy Tomorrow work with Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University, and the University of Arizona. The group will address the workforce development challenge, while accelerating Arizona's leadership in bioscience, life science and research, according to ABOR.
ASU will launch a new medical school (ASU Health) which could lead to ASU health clinics across the state.
"It's critical that we ensure every Arizonan has access to quality, affordable health care," said Governor Katie Hobbs. "That means we must attract and develop qualified healthcare professionals, and the AZ Healthy Tomorrow program is an important step to getting that done. I'm glad Arizona's universities are moving the needle forward on this important issue."
Key components of the plan include:
In addition to a new medical school, ASU Health will pioneer advances in health care while growing ASU's partnership with the Mayo Clinic; expand the nursing workforce; bridge engineering and medicine to advance problem-solving and address complex health care problems; and more.
UArizona and Banner Health will forge the College of Medicine and Banner University Medical Center into a fully integrated academic medical center. This will bring together some of the brightest minds in research, while increasing the medical school's capacity and number of graduates.
NAU will continue to be a national leader in nursing and allied health and will be vital to this initiative's success in rural Arizona. The university will announce details of its plans this fall.
AZ Healthy Tomorrow has set a goal for Arizona to exceed the national average in terms of the state's number of doctors and nurses per capita.
