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Daily Gazette

ALBANY — Mark Souza remembers what he describes as the “crash.”

It was 2019 and what started as a normal Friday quickly devolved into chaos, when the then-volunteer emergency medical services coordinator for Fulton County learned the Ambulance Service of Fulton County had ceased operations due to financial pressures…

The report includes 38 recommendations to stabilize the rural EMS system, including declaring a public health emergency that will allow resources to more easily flow to needed areas, as well as increasing government support for ambulance services. But it’s unclear how much it will cost to implement the recommendations or how quickly the policies can be adopted.

It’s a situation that some say reflects longstanding barriers in attracting workers to rural areas that are exacerbated by a declining population, lack of childcare options and low wages.

“This report only describes what’s been going on for years and years. It’s nothing new,” said Robert Martiniano, the senior program manager at the Center for Health Workforce Solutions based out of the University at Albany.

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Times Union

ALBANY — About seven years ago, Albany resident Marsha Penrose received short-term treatment at St. Peter’s Nursing and Rehabilitation Center to recover from an injury that left her wheelchair-bound. “This was home,” Penrose said. “This was a wonderful place to recover, and I think it’s a terrible loss for the people in Albany.”…

…Mazzacco said prospective residents and families told staff they were looking for private rooms and modernized spaces. This is something Robert Martiniano, senior program manager at the University at Albany’s Center for Health Workforce Studies, has noticed in his research.

“The elderly have many more options than they did before,” Martiniano said.

Those options include 55 and older active adult communities, such as The Spinney atVan Dyke in Delmar, and senior apartments, including a mixed-use developmentbeing built in Albany called Freedom Springs. “It’s important to understand that nursing homes are less and less needed nowbecause of these other options, because there is that whole theory of aging in place,that people don’t necessarily need to be in a nursing home,” Martiniano added.”We’ve also got an older population that’s pretty much dying off because the BabyBoomers, as they get older and older, they’re not around. So we’re seeing a lot morebeds shut down.”

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Inform NNY

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEXSTAR) — State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli released a report on Monday that showed service industries fueling New York’s economy. The data revealed that health care and education jobs dominate, while traditional manufacturing continues a decades-long decline.

“Service-providing industry sectors have powered job growth across New York state and have helped shape the 21st century economic landscape,” DiNapoli said.

DiNapoli’s office tallied service providers as holding more than 85% of the state’s almost 9.7 million jobs and said health care accounted for over 20% of all employment in New York. The New York State Department of Labor expects the health sector to grow another 27.8% by 2032, adding over half a million jobs that require new workers.

But a report from the Center for Health Workforce Studies at the University at Albany found that hospitals and nursing homes already struggled to hire and retain enough nurses in 2024, mostly blaming low salaries. The growing need for medical professionals for an aging population requiring more care unfortunately coincides with worker shortages in healthcare, and national data mirrors the local trend. A 2025 Oak Ridge Associated Universities study found that enrollment in nursing programs dropped 1.4% in 2024, while medical school enrollments fell for the third year in a row.

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North Country Now

CANTON — Northern Area Health Education Center (NAHEC) has been awarded a $5 million, five-year grant through the Healthcare Education and Life-skills Program (HELP), funded by the New York State Department of Health’s Office of Healthcare Workforce Innovation.

Launching January 1, 2026, the program will address the region’s critical healthcare workforce shortages by providing mentorship, training, wraparound support, and life-skills education for students and trainees pursuing healthcare careers…

…The Center for Health Workforce Studies (CHWS) will support evaluation and continuous improvement by analyzing workforce outcomes and participant data to guide ongoing refinement.

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Times Union

With health care cuts an ongoing concern for people across the U.S., here’s what should concern New Yorkers the most: the health care workforce shortage, with unfilled positions straining services across the state.

According to the Healthcare Association of New York State, last year 97% of New York hospitals reported a shortage of nurses, and 88% reported a need for non-nursing healthcare personnel. A report from the Center for Health Workforce Studies confirmed that these shortages span all health care settings, with a particular concentration among registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and entry-level aides.

And while much of the focus has been on nursing — affected by thousands of vacancies — there are other roles that are just as crucial to improving treatment outcomes…

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Times Union

ALBANY — Cohoes resident Heather Jordan lives in a house with holes in every wall, a dented stainless-steel refrigerator and doors that have at one time or another been ripped off their hinges. Her 19-year-old son, Terry, is responsible for the damage.

Terry, who is nonverbal and diagnosed with the most severe form of autism, experiences episodes when he becomes very aggressive, often ramming his head into people like Jordan, walls and even lockers at school…

…According to a 2024 report by the Health Resources and Services Administration, the U.S. is “experiencing a mental health crisis with increased levels of unmet behavioral health needs among people of all ages.” Adult and adolescent psychiatrists are among the specialties in the strongest demand across the state, according to a survey conducted by the Center for Health Workforce Studies in 2024.

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Politico

In a letter this week to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, the association argued the policy could exacerbate the country’s health care workforce shortage by making it more expensive for hospitals to train medical residents and hire physicians who commit to working in underserved areas as a condition of their visa.

“The need for additional physicians is critical and there are not enough US citizen doctors to fill the need,” GNYHA President Kenneth Raske wrote in the letter…

…And New York is a major contributor to the country’s physician workforce: Almost half of medical residents who train in the state end up practicing elsewhere in the U.S., according to the University at Albany’s Center for Health Workforce Studies.

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Dentistry Today

The gag reflex is a natural and necessary defense mechanism. But in the dental office, it often becomes a barrier, not just to patient care, but to staff well-being, efficient scheduling, and overall practice performance. What might seem like a minor issue can be actually far more disruptive than many oral hygiene practitioners may realize…

…In my own conversations with dentists and practice managers, they often point straight to margin loss and profitability issues when it comes to scheduling delays and staff burnout. When a patient gags repeatedly during an x-ray or impression, the appointment may need to be rescheduled or extended significantly. That extra time cuts into a provider’s schedule and, in many cases, results in lost revenue.

And the impact isn’t just financial. A 2023 study from the University of Albany reported that nearly 80% of oral health providers reported some level of burnout.3 For dental teams already stretched thin, consistent disruptions from gag reflex issues only make things more complicated.

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Greater Long Island

Suffolk County Community College just landed the biggest grant in its history — nearly $1 million a year for five years — to send more nurses and healthcare workers into the field for Long Island’s strained medical workforce.

The $4.98 million award comes from the New York State Department of Health’s Healthcare Education and Life-Skills Program (HELP) and will kick in January 2026.

The funds will help cover tuition for students in Suffolk’s registered nursing, practical nursing, clinical medical assistant and certified nursing assistant programs. Tuition support for students is expected to roll out beginning in fall 2026…

…A report last year from the Center for Health Workforce Studies found that workforce shortages are the leading cause of recruitment difficulties in hospitals, with non-competitive salaries also a major barrier.

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Crain’s New York Business

The Northwell School of Health Sciences in Woodside welcomed its first class of 230 ninth-graders in early September.

New York hospitals face clinical shortages as low pay and burnout drive recruitment challenges. One mega system is taking matters into its own hands by bringing scrubs and stethoscopes into the classroom…

…“The shortages are everywhere,” said Dr. Robert Martiniano, senior program manager at the University of Albany’s Center for Health Workforce Studies. That includes deficits of low-wage workers like home health aides as well as nurse practitioner and doctor jobs that require years of training, he said, demanding a multitude of workforce initiatives to help officials fill the gaps.

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