By Lauren Lifke
A bill that aims to entice health care workers back to New Mexico after graduating and leaving the state hit its halfway point this week after the New Mexico House voted to advance it.
House Bill 15, sponsored by Rep. Marianna Anaya, D-Albuquerque, proposes addressing the health care worker shortage by recruiting workers who graduated from institutions in New Mexico and no longer live in the state.
“This is the first program of its kind in the entire nation,” Anaya, a freshman representative, said. “One of the things that I really hoped to bring to this body and to this floor was new ideas.”
The program would be run by the Department of Workforce Solutions and contain two aspects: finding recruits and helping them adjust to their return to New Mexico.
It would help educate recruits about existing loan forgiveness and tax credits available in the state, Anaya said. The “concierge” aspect of the program would walk the recruits through licensing, credentialing, housing and child care incentives.
Anaya said the program would gather data about health care workers who graduated from New Mexico institutions. Anaya said she has spoken with local medical facilities about their current recruitment processes.
“When I asked how they are recruiting — that’s where I saw the biggest gap,” Anaya said. “We are not actively recruiting.”
The program would use the data to contact those who have graduated from local institutions and encourage them to return.
“We’re not waiting for health care recruits to come to us,” Anaya said. “We are recruiting them actively.”
The Legislature and governor would later use the data to evaluate whether the program is working.
The bill passed 39-21, with some opposition arguing the state should prioritize other ways of solving the crisis by advocating to keep health care workers who are already in New Mexico.
“Our health care workers across the state may need a little bit of a battle cry to come back home,” Anaya said. “We miss you, and we’re ready for you.”