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.