(May 2, 2025) – The Kansas Hospital Association has published its annual Kansas Health Care Workforce Report, providing an in-depth analysis of the current state of the health care workforce. The report underscores ongoing challenges in staffing and emphasizes the need for continued investment in workforce development initiatives.
The 2025 KHA Workforce Survey is the primary source of data, providing vacancy and turnover rates for 29 hospital-based and five clinic-based positions and highlighting those most in demand statewide and regionally. With this information, hospital and health system leaders, as well as policymakers, gain a deeper understanding of the current workforce environment, and insights into what to expect in the future. The data is designed to inform strategies for recruitment and retention, ensuring Kansas hospitals can support the health of their local communities.
This year, 105 Kansas hospitals participated in the survey. Statewide, turnover has declined for the first time in several years. Although the vacancy rate declined slightly in 2024, the open jobs rate in hospitals remains 60 percent higher than pre-pandemic levels.
Turnover for most jobs surveyed improved from last year's numbers, while remaining high amongst nurse assistants, phlebotomists, environmental services and dietary aides. Vacancy rates statewide for many roles also improved, but continue to be elevated in diagnostic imaging and nursing.
The report displays vacancy and turnover rates for 2024, showing the rates for licensed practical nurses and registered nurses have continued to decline from their peak in 2022. In contrast, the vacancy rate for nursing assistants declined, but turnover remained at approximately 30 percent. Fourteen percent of hospital RN jobs and 12 percent of hospital LPN jobs are vacant, and 14 percent of RNs and 19 percent of LPNs turned over throughout 2024. Magnetic Resonance Imaging technologists had the highest level of job openings at 20.6 percent. Other top in-demand statewide positions include 16.1 percent of nurse assistants, 15.1 percent of sterile processing technicians and 14.8 percent of certified radiology technologists.
Overall, the employee turnover rate for surveyed health care positions in Kansas averaged 15.1 percent, with the occupations that turned over the most being environmental services (36.9 percent), dietary aides (34.4 percent) and nurse assistants (29.9 percent).
The report also includes breakdowns of vacancies and turnover by region, categorized into seven geographic areas. For the third consecutive year, Southwest Kansas has the highest vacancy rate, with 15.5 percent of jobs remaining open, down from 17 percent in 2023. The largest openings in that region include 67 percent of mammography technologists and MRI technologists, as well as 48 percent of computed tomography technologists.
New Kansas Department of Labor data indicate nurse practitioners are now the fastest-growing health care occupation. The number of nurse practitioners needed by 2032 is expected to increase by 43.1 percent. Meanwhile, home health and personal care aides are projected to have the highest numerical job increase, with 5,856 new home health aide positions anticipated to be created by 2032.
Enrollment in Kansas K-12 schools has continued to decline, leading to fewer students pursuing health care credentials, licenses and degrees, and in turn, fewer working in Kansas. Slight improvements in the enrollment of Kansas post-secondary institutions were visible in 2024.
Students pursuing their LPN or RN in Kansas schools of nursing continue to face challenges in completing their programs, with 16 percent of nursing students, on average through the last five years, withdrawing from their program before graduating, meaning fewer nurses are graduating into the Kansas workforce.
KHA has continued to work to combat these issues on a variety of fronts including resiliency and retention education efforts, new preceptor/mentor statewide training, events to promote health care careers, advancement of health care apprenticeship opportunities to allow hospitals to grow their own workforce and workforce executive roundtables that bring together colleges and hospitals to address these issues collaboratively. These efforts continue to build on the progress we have made over the last few years as we partner with other organizations across the state and business, industry and government, to holistically address the workforce issue, ensuring Kansas hospitals continue to deliver the best care to every patient every time.
--Chad Austin