IHA President & CEO Kevin Kerwin joined CBS6 Albany this week to make the case for Upstate and rural hospitals ahead of the April 1 state budget deadline.
Our ask is straightforward: restore the $520M cut to the VAPAP program and pass workforce measures that give hospitals a real shot at filling their open positions. Across IHA member facilities, more than 8,000 positions are vacant, and nurse vacancy rates are still running at 12%, well above where they were before the pandemic.