The Oregon Legislature today passed HB 5202, legislation that included a $45 million prioritized investment in Oregon Health & Science University’s innovative 30-30-30 plan to help address the state’s urgent health care workforce needs. The funding — the largest appropriation made to an individual higher education institution this legislative session — will allow OHSU to significantly increase the number of graduates from several key health care professions programs, adding new, high-quality clinicians to the state’s hospitals and clinics over the next decade.
OHSU 30-30-30 will increase the number of graduates from clinical programs by 30% and increase all OHSU learner diversity to 30% by the year 2030.
“OHSU 30-30-30 is necessary to train more health care professionals to meet the health care needs of Oregon’s evolving population,” says Danny Jacobs, M.D., M.P.H., FACS, president of OHSU. “I believe investing now in an impactful and effective long-term solution is needed if we are to address the state’s current and future health care needs most effectively. I thank Senate President Peter Courtney, House Speaker Dan Rayfield, and all of our legislators for their leadership this session. Funding OHSU’s 30-30-30 will allow us to train health care providers who better represent the racial and ethnic diversity of Oregonians, and who are prepared to provide high-quality, culturally competent care. I would also like to thank School of Nursing Dean Susan Bakewell-Sachs, Senior Associate Dean for Education George Mejicano, and Interim Executive Vice President and Provost David Robinson, who were principal architects for this program.”
OHSU developed its 30-30-30 plan to help the state address the current health care workforce shortage and health care inequities that were exacerbated by COVID-19 and its disproportionate impact on underserved communities. Without action, the state projects that by 2030, Oregon is expected to need 40% more physician assistants, 12% more registered nurses, and 60% more nurse practitioners — even as the Oregon Health Authority’s 2021 Health Care Workforce Needs Assessment Report calls for increased workforce diversity and geographic distribution to more effectively address the community health care needs .
“Anything we can do to increase diversity in health care is good for all of Oregon. We can save lives by adding doctors and nurses all around the state,” says Senate President Peter Courtney.
The $45 million investment will enable OHSU to expand culturally competent health care access in communities across the state. It includes two parts:
- An increase of $20 million per year in OHSU’s direct state appropriation. This ongoing investment will allow OHSU to expand class sizes across its schools, graduating additional health care professionals — nurses, clinical psychologists, physician assistants, nutritionists, public health leaders, and others — within the decade. It will also increase diversity through learner pathway programs such as the Oregon Consortium of Nursing Education, Area Health Education Centers, HealthESteps, Wy’east and OnTrack OHSU!
- A $25 million one-time investment, which the OHSU Foundation will seek to match with philanthropy, creating a $50 million OHSU Opportunity Fund. This fund will provide tuition assistance, loan repayment and student resources to help recruit and retain a more diverse classes of learners at OHSU.
“We’re emerging from a crisis and looking to the future. We know that our health care workforce needs to be more diverse and more robust,” says Oregon House Speaker Dan Rayfield. “Our investment in OHSU’s 30-30-30 plan is an investment in affordable education, quality jobs and healthy futures for Oregon’s families.”
“As Oregon’s public academic health center, OHSU has a proven track record of graduating the next generation of health care professionals, the majority of whom stay in Oregon to help improve the well-being of residents across the state,” says David Robinson, Ph.D., OHSU interim executive vice president and provost. “OHSU 30-30-30 will lead to a larger — and more representative — health care workforce in Oregon that understands, and can address, the unique needs of the state’s diverse and rural communities.”
Additional information about OHSU 30-30-30: OHSU's Role in Addressing Oregon's Health Care Workforce Crisis.