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Leadership and Governance

Gov. Polis signs infrastructure bill to address Colorado’s shortage of health care workers

Bipartisan legislation funds new education facilities at four state colleges and universities, including MSU Denver.

Jared Polis signs legislation in front of a crowd.Cheers erupted from higher-education and health care leaders as Gov. Jared Polis signed HB24-1231 into law Wednesday. The move allocated $50 million to the Gina and Frank Day Health Institute at MSU Denver for the construction of a 70,000-square-foot tower. The facility will serve 10 health-related academic departments and provide experiential, interprofessional education to address Colorado’s critical workforce shortage.

The push to train more students comes as health care-industry experts predict dire workforce shortages, including the need for more than 3 million health care workers in the U.S. over the next five years. A 2021 analysis from human-resources consulting firm Mercer projected that Colorado will soon be short more than 10,000 nurses. 

Creating more capacity to train a wide range of health-industry students across the state will alleviate particularly acute needs in rural and underserved communities, the bill’s supporters said. Fifty-nine of Colorado’s 64 counties contain regions that are federally designated as health-professional-shortage areas in primary care.

The tower project is part of a larger effort to consolidate the University’s Health Institute programs under one roof, while providing state-of-the-art facilities, technology and instruction that will best prepare students for the modern health care workforce.