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By: McKesson Health Systems Editorial Team
Each May, we join the many others who celebrate National Hospital Week by recognizing the countless contributions that the nearly 6,000 hospitals, health systems, and health centers across the country – and their millions of healthcare workers – make to patients and communities alike. Almost everyone has been, or will be, served by a hospital at some point in their lives – whether for a routine preventative procedure, the administration of a lifesaving therapy, the excitement of delivering a child, or for an emergent medical need. Hospitals and healthcare workers are known for their steadfastness, constancy, and unwavering dedication to the patients they serve – moreso expectations vs. “extras” – but few outside the healthcare ecosystem understand the unique challenges these critical institutions face and the constant, complex efforts needed to overcome them and continue providing exceptional care.
Challenges in the healthcare system are nothing new, though they’re arguably at peak visibility and potentially more threatening than ever following pandemic-era shifts like soaring costs and the Great Resignation, among others. Within a decade, the Association of American Medical Colleges predicts a physician shortage of approximately 124,000, and a 2023 McKinsey & Co. survey revealed that 4 out of 10 registered nurses (inpatient) planned to leave the profession that year. These staffing shortages – along with rising drug costs, declining reimbursements, regulatory changes, compounding administrative burden, and more – require continuous and all-too-often-thankless work to manage at every level.
So, this week, we invite you to join us not only in celebrating the important clinical contributions of hospitals, health systems, health centers, and healthcare workers but also in thanking all those – the provider working double shifts, the pharmacist assuming additional responsibilities, the executive overseeing operations, the legislator lobbying for change, to name a few – who work tirelessly in the face of adversity to ensure patients and communities maintain access to the care they deserve.
For more information about how partnering with McKesson can help your health system achieve more, contact us today.
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