- Healthcare leaders say nurse and physician shortages persist, worsened by burnout, retirements and workplace violence — with 81.6% of nurses reporting violence in 2022.
- Medicaid reforms and the end of ACA subsidies could increase uninsured rates, strain emergency rooms and threaten rural hospitals.
Northern Kentucky’s healthcare industry is still clawing its way back from the COVID-19 pandemic, several industry executives said during the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce’s Eggs ‘n Issues breakfast panel on Feb. 10.
Moreover, the industry is facing challenges related to rising costs, a workforce shortage and federal policy changes that, according to these executives, could affect hospitals, long-term care, and healthcare employers overall.
The panel–comprising Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Senior Analyst Lisa Cooper; Gravity Diagnostics Chief of Laboratory Operations Nicholas Lyktey; Carespring Health Care Management Chief Development Officer Kim Majick; and St. Elizabeth Healthcare Chief Financial Officer Lori Ritchey-Baldwin–addressed the challenges facing the industry amid a tumultuous national economic environment.
One primary topic the executives focused on was the ongoing shortage of nurses and physicians in the area and nationwide. A November 2022 Health Workforce Analysis by the Health Resources and Services Administration estimated a shortage of 63,720 professionals by 2030, citing pandemic-related burnout and many nurses approaching retirement age.
Locally, while recent reporting suggests the shortage has eased in recent years, the problem persists. Cooper mentioned that one of the challenges impacting the talent pipeline is the negative shift in public perception of nursing, along with the general difficulty of the career.
“Healthcare is a difficult field to be in,” she said. “Healthcare used to be seen as heroes. That since COVID, has changed a little bit, and people question whether they want to go into a field where they’re going to be constantly questioned and they’re going to be looked at as sometimes the villain.”
Ritchey-Baldwin also pointed out that a rise in workplace violence against nurses impacts retention. Approximately 81.6% of nurses reported experiencing at least one type of workplace violence in 2022, including verbal threats, physical threats, and other violent interactions, according to a 2023 nationwide survey of nurses published by National Nurses United.
In response, St. Elizabeth Healthcare adopted new security measures to improve worker safety. Ritchey-Baldwin said the hospital system is currently installing a weapons-detection system to bolster security.
“Because of the significant increase in incidents against our workers and our associates, we are getting ready to implement a weapons detection system, and a lot of that is so that our healthcare workers so people want to come to work and want to feel safe while working,” she said.
In addition to workforce issues, the panel discussed how changes in federal healthcare policy, stemming from the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill in summer 2025, could increase financial pressures on healthcare providers.
Ritchey-Baldwin cautioned that Medicaid reforms, work requirements, and the end of Affordable Care Act subsidies are likely to raise the overall uninsured rate, adding financial pressure on healthcare providers. She also noted that rural hospitals, which depend heavily on Medicaid patients, could be especially impacted. If these changes lead to rural hospital closures, they could result in job losses, reduced access to care, and higher costs for employers and those with commercially insured patients.
“Medicaid patients, if they don’t have coverage any longer, aren’t going to stop getting healthcare, they’re going to come to our emergency rooms, which means wait times and crowded of emergency is going to exist, and that will impact everyone, but instead of getting paid by Medicaid like we did in the past, we will get paid nothing for those patients,” she said.
