Several healthcare workforce expansion proposals were passed by the New Mexico Senate and House of Representatives during the recent 30 day legislative session to help expand the workforce as announced by Governor Susana Martinez.
New Mexico is a large rural state experiencing a shortage in primary care and family practice healthcare providers. The state’s 32 counties out of the state’s 33 counties are designated as Health Professional Shortage Areas and with the anticipated Medicaid expansion, as many as 205,000 new patients are expected to need medical attention statewide.
Legislation for $500,000 was included in the New Mexico state budget just passed to create a statewide voluntary community health worker training and certification program. This initiative establishes a program for community health workers to further develop their talents and to help those who provide eligible health services to have access to Medicaid reimbursement for the first time.
In addition, funding in the state budget for $600,000 will be used to expand telemedical services so that more rural area patients and providers can be connected and have more access to specialists and physicians in other parts of the state.
The state budget includes $905,000 to expand residency slots at the University of New Mexico (UNM), School of Medicine in the areas of internal medicine, psychiatry, general surgery, and family and community medicine.
The state budget provides $1,655 million to expand the number of nurse practitioner slots at UNM by 24 students per year to include family nurse practitioners, pediatric nurse practitioners, and certified nurse midwives.
Another piece of legislation passed will expedite nurse licensure. The legislation now requires the state to license any qualified nurse or nurse practitioner who wants to move to New Mexico to be able to practice within five days or less.
Prior to the legislative session, the governor also announced the establishment of a common nursing curriculum across the state so that colleges and universities could train more qualified nurses. For a long time, individuals seeking to work as nurses have had difficulty transferring credits from one institution to another. This initiative also enables colleges throughout the state to offer bachelor’s degrees in nursing in their own communities.
Also, $726,000 in the state budget will be used to increase the number of healthcare professionals in health shortage areas by expanding Loan-for-Service Programs and Loan Repayment Efforts to attract more nurses, nurse practitioners, doctors, and other health professionals.
To train more dentists, $146,000 was included in the budget to add six additional New Mexico dental slots in the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education to increase the number of practicing dentists once they have completed their studies.