Massachusetts’ nursing shortage has improved, hospital group says

Massachusetts hospitals, which experienced an acute shortage of nurses, technicians, and other workers during the pandemic, have made significant progress filling vacancies, although problems persist, according to a report released Monday.

The study by the Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association found that the number of vacancies at roughly 60 acute care hospitals statewide has fallen from 19,000 in 2022 to 13,600 last year, a decline of 28 percent.

The shortage of nurses, many of whom left jobs during the pandemic because of exhaustion and burnout, has particularly improved among the 50 categories of positions surveyed, said the report. Five of the 10 largest vacancy reductions occurred in nursing jobs, and the statewide nursing vacancy rate has dropped from 15 percent to 10 percent.

The report, called “On the Mend: Progress and Pressure Points for Massachusetts’ Healthcare Workforce,” attributes the improvement partly to concerted efforts by hospitals and health systems to recruit, hire, and retain employees.

“Even through enormous operational challenges, our hospitals and health systems have devoted a record amount of resources to workforce in recent years,” said Valerie Fleishman, executive vice president and chief innovation officer at the association. “These investments have made a clear difference.”

The head of the 26,000-member Massachusetts Nurses Association, the largest union of registered nurses in the state, took a decidedly dimmer view of the state of hospital staffing.

Joe-Ann Fergus, executive director of the association, said her members routinely file reports alleging unsafe staffing at hospitals. Although she commended the hospital association for recognizing that shortages of nurses has been a problem, she said a 10 percent vacancy rate is “not a passing grade.”

“To applaud yourself for doing less poorly? I’m not sure that would be the standard I would set, especially for hospitals in Massachusetts,” Fergus said.

This is a developing story.

Jonathan Saltzman can be reached at jonathan.saltzman@globe.com.