Bobbi Jo Glunt, executive director, Cove Forge Behavior Health System, left, and Dr. Latika Davis-Jones, Secretary of the PA Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs | Coveforgebehavioralhealth.com / PA.gov
Bobbi Jo Glunt, executive director, Cove Forge Behavior Health System, left, and Dr. Latika Davis-Jones, Secretary of the PA Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs | Coveforgebehavioralhealth.com / PA.gov
The ability to treat and serve Blair County residents affected by the rising use of opioid drugs is being impacted by a healthcare worker shortage in Pennsylvania.
The county had 2,718 residents with an opioid drug use disorder in the year 2020, reported Altoona Times.
Statewide, opioid drug use disorders in Pennsylvania increased from 295,000 in 2016 to 316,000 in 2019.
The state's Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs (DDAP), provides funding to 47 county-level "Single County Authorities (SCAs)", which coordinate local behavioral treatment and recovery services.
Blair County's SCA is the Blair Drug and Alcohol Program, Inc., (BDAP) a non-profit founded in 2010, that provides free drug and alcohol evaluations, coordinates county treatment and case management, houses the county's Driving-Under-the-Influence (DUI) coordinate and provides highway safety classes, among other services.
The James E Vanzandt VA Medical Center in Altoona also provides residential treatment for substance use and mental health services. The center also offers co-occurring treatment for those with pain and substance use issues.
The county also has several private treatment facilities, including Cove Forge Behavioral Health System in Williamsburg and Pyramid Healthcare, Inc. in Duncansville.
Cove Forge offers inpatient detox, residential rehab for adults, and specialized programs for seniors and women. They provide group meetings, self-help groups, and social skills training. Pyramid provides residential long-term rehab, residential detox, and short-term inpatient rehab programs. They offer a range of counseling services, motivational incentives, and educational support for substance use and mental health issues.
Both Cove and Pyramid were visited in April by DDAP Secretary Dr. Latika Davis-Jones as part of a statewide tour to highlight statewide drug treatment programs, and how the state's healthcare worker shortage is impacting those programs.
Due to Pennsylvania's healthcare worker shortage, 63 of the state’s 67 counties considered a partially or primary care health professional shortage area (HPSA), according to a 2021 report by MarshMcLennan.
When it comes to behavioral and mental health, 53 of Pennsylvania's counties are considered mental health HPSAs.
Eighty-four percent of respondents in a September 2023 survey of the state’s substance use disorder (SUD) workforce said that the current workforce shortage is a "moderate to serious problem" for their organizations. That survey, conducted by DDAP, also found that the average job vacancy rate at these organizations was 18%.
This workforce shortage comes as opioid-related deaths rose sharply in Pennsylvania between 2010 and 2019. The rate of deaths nearly quintipled from 5 deaths per 100,000 people in 2010 to 23.7 deaths per in 2019, wrote Penn State University geographer and demographer Louisa Holmes in a May 11, 2023 GoErie op-ed.
Those numbers then rose to 42.5 opioid-related deaths per 100,000 people in 2020.
DDAP's survey identified several causes of the workforce shortage, including the number of applicants and compensation issues.
The head of the American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) also told Keystone Today that the state's lawsuit climate also impacts the ability to recruit and retain healthcare workers.
"Escalation of medical liability can lead to an access to care crisis by driving doctors away from the state due to mounting costs,” said ATRA President Tiger Joyce.
Kentucky, facing a similar healthcare workforce shortage, recently passed the country's first-ever law decriminalizing medical errors by healthcare providers, except in cases of gross negligence or misconduct.
Curt Schroder, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Coalition for Civil Justice Reform (PCCJR), said he would support similar legislation in Pennsylvania.
“Criminalization should be limited only to areas where intentional harm to a patient is committed,” Schroder told the Pennsylvania Record. “Errors, while very unfortunate, should not be treated as criminal acts.”
“PCCJR would oppose any attempt to further deal with medical errors through additional criminalization of unintentional behavior,” Schroder said.
Schroder specifically referenced the workforce shortage in rural Pennsylvania, saying, "Rural hospitals already face greater difficulties recruiting providers than their suburban and urban peers and, now, they must also cover urban-size risk factors to retain them."
As the number of opioid drug disorders increases in Blair County, the healthcare worker shortage impacts the ability for BDAP, Cove Forge and Pyramid to treat these residents.
Secretary Davis-Jones promoted the state's healthcare worker student loan repayment program during her visit to Blair County, but, for now, Schroder said there is no movement on a bill to decriminalize medical errors and, with Pennsylvania ranked as ATRA's "#1 Judicial Hellhole," medical lawsuit reform appears unlikely anytime soon.
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How many opioid drug use disorders were in each Pennsylvania county in 2020?
Source: PA Opioid Data Dashboard
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