Next health care evolution to test durability, role of Nashville’s powerhouse industry

Perspective: The coming era of change in health care could put Nashville on track for an awakening about the role and durability of its powerhouse industry even as HCA Healthcare projects the company is in “a bit of a safe zone.”

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Greater Nashville sees median wage jump in new Census data, yet costs still dominate the region’s affordability conversation

New U.S. Census Bureau data signaled a tight labor market and competition are pushing up some Nashville-area wages, but affordability remains a regional challenge.
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With primaries in the rearview, health care leaders wait for details to emerge from Dean and Lee

This is the first in an on-going series that will look at a wide range of issues, including the economy, infrastructure and manufacturing, facing Tennessee’s next governor.

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Bidding adieu to quarterly scrutiny, LifePoint sets off to recalibrate, confront headwinds

The deal is a byproduct of excess private equity funds sitting around and the stresses piling up on public health care companies — and “quarter-to-quarter obsessions aren’t ideal for turning the battleship.”

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Nashville imports Seattle tech training model to ease tight labor market

Programs that expand the size of the workforce will be critical to sustain Nashville’s growth, particularly as the health care sector tries to establish itself as a health tech leader. 

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Tight labor market highlights skills gap, wage obstacles in South

Tennessee Reconnect, a statewide adult education initiative, could be a model to boost access to skills training in the South, per a new report that assesses whether the region is primed to close the gap that keeps workers from some well paying jobs despite historically low unemployment rates.

There aren’t enough workers in the South to fill what’s called “middle skill” jobs, which include a variety of jobs such as plumber, electrician, bookkeeper, some medical assistant positions, according to a new report from the National Skills Coalition and the Federal Reserve Banks of Atlanta and St. Louis.

The open positions have put pressure on state and private sectors to work together to ensure that potential employees have the opportunity to train for and learn the requisite skills. Tennessee’s unemployment rate stood at 3.5 percent in May.

“Employers are having a tough time finding skilled employees right now. They are feeling that squeeze right now. Once again it’s important to look at the causes behind that,” said Melissa Johnson, senior state policy analyst at the coalition and an author of the report.

Johnson said the organization wanted to take advantage of the tight labor market to determine what kinds of skills employers most need as a way to better understand the types of training or policies that need to be put in place.

Yet, a nuance of the tight labor market — and the state’s historically low level of education — is that many people are having to work more than one job to make ends meet. Not everyone feels like it’s a boom period, said Kenyatta Lovett, executive director of Complete Tennessee, a non-profit focused on postsecondary education.

For people with a high school degree or less, pre-recession employment never rebounded.

“The recession has continued and they are not able to take part in what this boom is about,” said Lovett.

In Tennessee, a worker would need to make $15.74 an hour, or work 87 hours a week at minimum wage, to afford a two-bedroom apartment, according to a new analysis by the National Low Income Housing Coalition.  A one-bedroom in Tennessee would require 71 hours a week at the $7.35 minimum wage.

“We have to come to the reality that for a lot of individuals their main job doesn’t pay enough to survive and they have to take a second or third job. In most cases they are working more than one job — that drastically limits your time to achieve more education” said Lovett.

‘The cost of living is creeping up on them’

The skills report tips Tennessee Reconnect, a part of Gov. Bill Haslam’s effort to ensure 55 percent of adults have education beyond high school, as an innovative approach that other states could follow as they try to make sure the workforce has the skills for current and future jobs. Tennessee Reconnect rolls out statewide this fall.

But it’s not clear at this point who will be able to take advantage of the program and what barriers, such as access to transportation or childcare, will impede enrollment, said Johnson.

“What we’re worried about is those below the poverty line may not be as strong in numbers as their peers,” said Lovett.

Lovett and others will be paying attention to enrollment and completion data to understand what makes successful adult education feasible.

“That is the interesting challenge that we have not just in Tennessee but across the nation,” said Lovett. “A lot of individuals would love to (go to school) but the cost of living is creeping up on them so they have to use that time to find other forms of employment to pay the bills.”

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State officials, looking for ways to develop a workforce that can ‘bob, weave, and adjust,’ push to forge apprenticeship network

The Weekender: McDonald’s kiosks, sneaky greens + Nashville’s growing pains

Spotlighting what you might have missed on BirdDog and why a few headlines from elsewhere matter for Tennessee.

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HHS Start-Up Day: Have bespoke, short pitches — and always have an ask

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The Weekender: ‘Good jobs’ without a BA exist, keeping workers in financial shape to be healthy + would you tackle an MD?

A screenshot of Nashville from the Neighborhood Map of U.S. Obesity, which overlays different types of Census and national health data, visualizes where obesity is more highly concentrated around the city.  The scale ranges from blue, which is zero to  24.24 percent obesity to red, which is 52.39 percent to 100 percent.

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Snapshot of where consumer money goes and confidence in paying health care costs

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