Today, Governor Joe Lombardo signed a new executive order (see below) expanding the mission of the Patient Protection Commission (PPC) to review and make recommendations on how to address the state’s health-care workforce shortage.

In 2019, the Nevada Legislature created the Patient Protection Commission to perform a systematic review of issues related to the healthcare needs of residents in Nevada. “In order to achieve its objectives, the PPC must now work to address current challenges with building an adequate health-care workforce to care for residents,” the Governor noted in a released statement

In its efforts to address the shortage, the PPC will evaluate data and national best practices for the following issue areas, including:

(a) Attracting and retaining talent to address health-care workforce challenges in urban and rural communities;

(b) Improving access to primary care and public health services;

(c) Removing unnecessary state administrative hurdles to recruiting and retaining health-care workers;

(d) Identifying sustainable funding strategies for strengthening the state’s health-care workforce, which includes supporting competitive Medicaid reimbursements;

(e) Ensuring recommended strategies for increasing provider reimbursement are based on payment methodologies that incentivize and reward for better quality and value for the taxpayer dollar; and

(f) Identifying strategies for evaluating new and existing state investments in efforts to improve the capacity and size of the state’s health-care workforce.

In 2021, Nevada ranked 45th in the nation for the ratio of active physicians with 218 per 100,000 residents, compared with the national average of 272, according to the American Association of Medical Colleges. About 70 percent of the state’s population live in areas with a shortage of primary care providers, and about one third of Nevada physicians are 60 years of age or older according to Silver State data.