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• Nearly all health care workforce professions are experiencing shortages. That means hospitals are paying more to educate, recruit and employ enough health care workers to meet the medical needs of patients and communities.
• While the current economic crisis is causing staff layoffs and reducing the numbers of workers retiring, this will only prolong the inevitable impact of the shortage.

California's emergency rooms are in serious condition which impacts the availability of health care for all of us. Some of the risk factors include:

•  In a recent survey, 73 percent of hospitals report an increase in consumers having difficulty paying out-of-pocket health care costs, and 33 percent are seeing an increase in uninsured patients visiting emergency rooms.
• As people continue to lose their jobs and their health insurance, more uninsured people are using emergency rooms for basic health care services.
• Counties across California are struggling with financial shortfalls — laying off hundreds of public health and mental health workers and shutting down community health care program