Future of Health Leaders Examine Worldwide Healthcare Workforce Challenges, Lay Out Recommendations for Change

RAMAT GAN, Israel – December 8, 2022 – In a paper published yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine Catalyst, five key members of Future of Health (FOH), a global organization that grew from an initiative established by Sheba Medical Center in Israel, take a deep dive into the growing healthcare workforce crisis – analyzing the causes and laying out recommendations for change.

The paper assesses how to drive change in multiple facets of healthcare workforce design and planning, including medical education and training, care team delivery, and leadership roles from the front line to the C-suite

“The pandemic-related staffing shortages unmasked a key vulnerability in our health and healthcare ecosystem and resulted in severe access waits, delays, and forgone care dramatically increasing the burden of illness in our communities,” the paper states.

“As an industry, we have an opportunity and an obligation to embrace and lean into the future. This will require leadership, collaboration, and a clear vision. We will need to attract and retain the very best workforce to serve our patients ad communities,” it concludes.

With particular focus on healthcare technology and care delivery teams, FOH members identified the top five imperatives that must be prioritized for the healthcare workforce of the future:

1. The need to embrace change
2. The need to understand and address workforce dissatisfiers
3. The need to ensure vertical commitment within healthcare organizations
4. The need to establishing clear and committed leadership
5. The need to educate the workforce to thrive with the tools and care delivery models of the future

The FOH community, created and led by Israel’s Sheba Medical Center, helps shape the future of global health by bringing together leaders of the world’s leading health systems and hospitals as well as policymakers, academics, and senior industry figures to share challenges, develop a vision, facilitate progress, and influence global policy.

The NEJM Catalyst paper was authored by:

• Eyal Zimlichman, MD, MSc, Founding Co-Chair, Future of Health, Chief Transformation and Innovation Officer, Sheba Medical Center, Ramat Gan, Israel
• Charles (Chip) N. Kahn III, MPH, Founding Co-Chair, Future of Health, President and CEO, Federation of American Hospitals
• Gary S. Kaplan, MD, Senior Advisor and Senior Vice President, CommonSpirit Health
• Christoph A. Meier, MD, Director, Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
• Claudia A. Salzberg, PhD, MSE, Director of Research, Future of Health, Associate Faculty, Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins University