Key Points:

• Arizona faces a health care professional shortage, ranks ninth worst in the U.S.

• Bill would give a one-time appropriation to establish a workforce development program

• The proposed model has already seen success in seven other states

An average American spends less time with their health care provider and more time interacting with health care professionals who take vitals and sometimes blood samples. 

And while Arizona does have a physician shortage, there’s also a shortage of health care professionals who help deliver medical care. 

Overall, Arizona is ranked ninth in the U.S. for worst health care professional shortage areas, Sen. Lauren Kuby, D-Tempe, said. On a more granular level, the state has about 284 Health Care Professional Shortage Area designations in primary care. That affects a total population of over 4.2 million people.

Right now, Arizona needs about 776 practitioners to remove the designation, according to a 2026 quarterly summary from the Health Resources and Services Administration, part of the federal Department of Health and Human Services. 

Kuby filed Senate Bill 1461, which would give a one-time appropriation of $5 million from the general fund to the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System to establish a workforce development program for allied health care professions. Kuby originally asked for a $15 million appropriation but reduced it due to budget constraints this year. 

“We need to have an ecosystem that can help educate, recruit people, coach people, mentor people and keep them in the profession,” Kuby told the Arizona Capitol Times. 

The program would be a partnership among several key entities. Allied Up Cooperative is a career counselor organization that works with Futuro Health, a nonprofit organization that teaches courses in allied health care fields. They would work with Healthcare Rising Arizona, a nonpartisan group of Arizonans working to address issues in Arizona’s health care system.

The idea is to help recruit and provide tuition-free entry-level courses to adults 18 and over who have a high school diploma or GED. Courses could include certified medical assistant, certified nursing assistant, phlebotomy training, emergency room technician, surgical technician and pharmacy technician. 

Health Care Rising already has a certified medical assistant course ready to go with 25 seats. A medical assistant can perform patient intake and take vitals and blood samples before patients see their provider. 

The program has already seen success with 75% graduation rates and 70% job placement rates. Six states, including Oregon, Colorado, Mississippi, Washington, Virginia and Maryland, and Washington, D.C. have seen success with it, Kuby said. 

Kuby argued the proposed model would quickly solve the shortages because the education infrastructure already exists and students could be enrolled as soon as 30 days after the measure passes. That would mean students could begin graduating in as little as 18 to 24 months.

The senator, who represents Legislative District 8, said the workforce shortage isn’t going away and that Arizona needs a pipeline of trained health care workers who want to stay here. It would be more beneficial than funding temporary fixes, she said. 

“I wanted to introduce a nonpartisan issue. It will benefit the entire state,” Kuby said. “Every family in Arizona deserves access to health care, whether they’re in Phoenix, Flagstaff or Douglas.”

Hortencia Armendáriz, director of health care opportunities at Healthcare Rising Arizona, said their members and leaders have seen firsthand the challenges patients face when they get health care. 

“We’ve seen it before the pandemic and post pandemic, there’s a huge need for a robust and healthy workforce,” she said in an interview. “We think there’s an opportunity to grow your own through our workforce development ecosystem.”

In addition to the need for practitioners to fill the health care professional shortage, people who work alongside doctors and nurses are also in need. The average American sees their doctor for about five minutes, and spends more time with other professionals who take vitals, draw blood samples or support the work that doctors and nurses are doing, she said, adding it helps with the delivery of care. 

People are not only trained in the course they choose, but also taught soft skills and how to work in a professional health care setting, Armendáriz added.

“There’s a transformation for the student. There’s a transformation for the economy because that worker now is in a higher paying job where they’re able to put more back into the economy,” Armendáriz said. “This isn’t an issue of party, this is an issue of economics employment.”

So far, the bill has seen bipartisan support. It passed the Senate on a 23-4 vote, with applause from senators and now heads to the House Appropriations Committee.