In the wake of the COVID-19 public health crisis, one issue proved it could no longer be ignored: the United States has a healthcare staffing problem. Health economist and professor at the U-M School of Nursing Olga Yakusheva believes that current government reimbursement models incentivize hospitals to cut nursing jobs to save money. In this Q&A for Michigan News, Yakusheva discusses what’s really causing the nursing shortage, how the current reimbursement models are problematic, and presents her model that could potentially solve the issue and improve patient care overall.
