Healthcare

The WCA’s healthcare advocacy priorities are developed through the work of the WCA Healthcare Consortium, comprised of leaders from world-renowned healthcare systems, physician practices, nursing homes, home care, and related service providers, and supports the growth of bioscience and medical research in our region. The WCA's healthcare legislative and regulatory priorities include ensuring adequate government funding levels, requiring appropriate reimbursement from public and private payers for all services including telehealth, reigning in the oversized market influence of healthcare insurance carriers and requiring them to reinvest back into the communities where they do business (similar to the Community Reinvestment Act within the banking industry), common-sense medical malpractice reform, among others.

Healthcare providers are actively assessing their current and future workforce needs and are experiencing an ongoing need for more nurses, nurse assistants, respiratory therapists, lab techs and other clinical and non-clinical positions. WCA is uniquely positioned to help create a sustainable pipeline of locally educated and trained healthcare talent through our Healthcare Workforce Talent Initiative. An active committee made up of the region’s largest healthcare providers and seventeen area colleges, BOCES and career centers, collaborate to build this sustainable talent pipeline by aligning curriculum with talent needs, coordinating and increasing availability of clinical training, promoting workforce diversity and inclusion, and developing new funding streams for training and early career support.

Westchester and the surrounding region will need continued opportunities to showcase its considerable assets while also addressing existing challenges in fulfilling its bioscience aspirations. Access to early stage investment and college level engineering programs are top-level focuses. The WCA, through its existing Healthcare Consortium, will engage with County government, our healthcare systems, the real estate industry, and other stakeholders to advance this agenda.