Professor of Health Professions Tom Kernozek lends expertise to statewide task force

Posted 8 a.m. Friday, Sept. 6, 2024

Professor of Health Professions Tom Kernozek lends expertise to statewide task force

UW-La Crosse Professor Tom Kernozek says it was an honor to serve on a statewide task force charged with developing plans to bolster Wisconsin's workforce of health care professionals.

Kernozek, a longtime professor of health professions/physical therapy, was one of 25 people appointed to Gov. Evers' Task Force on the Health Care Workforce last winter. The group met monthly through the spring and summer, developing a list of 10 recommendations and 26 action items addressing education and training, recruitment and retention, and regulatory policy.

The recommendations include:

• Supporting faculty who teach health professions
• Strengthening clinical training and experience
• Reducing barriers to training
• Expanding apprenticeships and other learning opportunities
• Increasing payer support for recruitment and retention
• Fostering recruitment and retention in areas of need
• Supporting regional innovation
• Supporting expanded pathways to licensure
• Strengthening state capacity to support licensure
• Strengthening workforce monitoring and support

Kernozek says he is proud of what the task force was able to accomplish - in large part due to the diversity of voices within the group. Led by Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, the group included not just educators but health care practitioners and administrators, public policy coordinators, and more.

"The success of the task force can be attributed to our different perspectives, our excellent planning facilitator, the governor's staff who understood state policies and actionable levers for implementation to be guided by the plan, the invited speakers who provided data and further context that supported evidence-based decision-making and our open, honest dialogue throughout the entire process," Kernozek says. "I certainly felt my voice was heard and that my ideas were valued."

While it will take a collective, statewide effort to tackle these issues, Kernozek says universities will continue to be a key driver of the workforce development solution.

"The university plays a crucial role in education and training," Kernozek says. "We serve as the pipeline in preparing students who are professional and well-versed in their field, and who have gained sufficient clinical experience to enter their profession at an entry level. Many of the task force recommendations have focused on education and training within the health professions, and this happens to be one of our campus strengths."

The Task Force on the Health Care Workforce is part of Gov. Evers' "Year of the Worker" declaration to bolster the state's workforce in high-demand, high-need industries.

The declaration supports a focus on new efforts to build a workforce prepared to meet the needs of a 21st-century economy, including finding sustainable solutions to retain, attract and train talented workers to address our state's workforce shortages.

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