A majority of healthcare facilities, 85%, are experiencing a shortage of allied healthcare professionals, and 82% hired newly graduated allied healthcare professionals over the last 12 months to help address staffing shortages, according to a survey by AMN Healthcare Services Inc. (NYSE: AMN).

Eighty-five percent of hospitals, medical groups, home health providers and other healthcare facilities participating in the survey said they are experiencing shortages of allied healthcare professionals “a great deal,” “a lot” or “a moderate amount.”

Only 15% said they were experiencing such shortages “a little” or “not at all.”

For 80% of the health facilities, the current labor shortage in recruiting allied healthcare professionals is their primary challenge, followed by longer times to fill positions, 71%, and burnout among allied healthcare professionals, 46%.

“The national shortage of healthcare professionals is not limited to nurses and physicians,” said Robin Johnson, AMN’s divisional president. “Allied healthcare professionals also are in short supply, and many facilities are struggling to keep pace with their staffing needs.”

Additionally, the report noted that the use of temporary allied healthcare professionals may have increased as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Prior to the pandemic, those surveyed indicated that an average of 25% of their allied healthcare professional staff were composed of temporary providers. The average has since risen to 30%.

Other findings:

• 67% of health technicians are offering additional hiring incentives such as signing bonuses to address the shortage of allied healthcare professionals, 59% are increasing pay rates, and 59% percent are hiring temporary allied healthcare professionals to fill gaps in their staff.
• When asked what type of newly graduated allied healthcare professionals they hired last year, radiologic technologists was the top response at 38%; physical therapists were cited by 36%; laboratory technicians, 31%; occupational therapists, 30%; and speech-language pathologists, 26%.

The survey includes responses from 1,005 healthcare facilities.