WSRCA Co-Hosts Second Annual State of Healthcare Workforce Forum
Posted by: Brian Hernandez
Central Texas healthcare leaders now have a clearer picture of the workforce opportunities and challenges ahead.
Workforce Solutions Rural Capital Area (WSRCA), Workforce Solutions Capital Area, and St. David's Foundation brought healthcare, education, workforce, business, and community leaders together for the second annual State of Healthcare Workforce Forum, an event focused on the progress, challenges, and partnerships shaping the region's healthcare workforce.
This year's forum also coincided with the launch of the new Central Texas Healthcare Workforce Needs and Education Pipeline Study, developed in partnership by WSRCA, Workforce Solutions Capital Area, and Opportunity Austin. Together, the forum and study gave regional leaders an opportunity to move beyond identifying workforce challenges and focus on the data, partnerships, and solutions needed to address them.
New Data Shows the Scale of Central Texas' Healthcare Growth
Healthcare is already one of Central Texas' most vital and fastest-growing employment sectors, and the new study shows that demand isn't slowing down.
From 2019 through 2025, the region added 24,837 healthcare jobs. Another 14,178 new healthcare jobs are projected between 2026 and 2031, including 10,190 new jobs among the region's 15 most in-demand healthcare occupations.
Those numbers represent significant career opportunities for Central Texans, but they also highlight the challenge facing employers, educators, and workforce partners. Thousands of new jobs require thousands of skilled people prepared to fill them.
The study examines workforce demand, education and training capacity, employer feedback, and county-level trends across Bastrop, Blanco, Burnet, Caldwell, Fayette, Hays, Lee, Llano, Travis, and Williamson counties. It also provides practical recommendations designed to help employers, educators, workforce organizations, and community leaders strengthen the pipeline into high-demand healthcare careers.
That research provided an important backdrop for this year's State of Healthcare Workforce Forum.
Bringing Regional Leaders Together Around a Shared Challenge
Building a healthcare workforce capable of keeping pace with Central Texas' growth isn't something one hospital, college, workforce board, or community can accomplish alone.
Healthcare workers move across county lines. Employers recruit throughout the region. Students may live in one community, train in another, and begin their careers somewhere else entirely.
That makes healthcare workforce development a regional challenge and a regional opportunity.
Workforce Solutions Capital Area CEO Yael Lawson and WSRCA CEO Paul Fletcher helped lead the conversation alongside healthcare executives, educators, workforce professionals, policymakers, philanthropic organizations, and community leaders.
The forum also welcomed Texas State Representative Donna Howard, District 48, as participants explored how stronger collaboration can help Central Texas respond to growing workforce demand while creating more opportunities for people to build successful healthcare careers.
Connecting Education With the Careers Employers Need
One of the most important questions facing the region isn't simply how many healthcare jobs will be available. It's whether Central Texas has the education and training capacity to prepare enough people for them.
That connection between workforce demand and the education pipeline was a central focus of both the new study and the forum.
Leaders from Austin Community College District, Texas State University Round Rock Campus, Capital IDEA, Baylor Scott & White Health, and St. David's HealthCare brought perspectives from different points along that pathway, from education and training to hiring and career advancement.
The conversations reinforced the importance of helping students and job seekers understand the full range of opportunities available in healthcare. While nurses, physicians, and other clinical professionals are essential, today's healthcare organizations also depend on workers in technology, administration, operations, data, patient support, and many other occupations.
Better career awareness, stronger employer connections, and training programs aligned with actual workforce demand can help more Central Texans see a place for themselves in the industry.
Looking Ahead at a Changing Healthcare Workforce
The forum also looked beyond today's job openings to examine the forces that will shape healthcare work in the years ahead.
Featured panelists included S. Craig Watkins, Ernest A. Sharpe Centennial Professor at The University of Texas at Austin; Phil Kendzior, Vice President of Workforce Development Programs at Baylor Scott & White Health; Stacey Beason-Burklund, Division Vice President of Clinical Informatics at St. David's HealthCare; and Dr. Edward Burger, President and CEO of St. David's Foundation.
The program also featured Dr. Julie Lessiter, Vice President of Texas State University Round Rock Campus; Alyssia Palacios-Woods, Executive Director of Capital IDEA; Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart, Chancellor of Austin Community College District; and Donna Nichols, Executive Director of the Bastrop County Public Health Department.
Their perspectives helped broaden the conversation beyond recruitment. Technology, education, training capacity, access, changing skills, and career advancement all influence whether Central Texas can develop and retain the workforce its healthcare system will need.
The new regional study gives partners another tool for making those decisions based on what is happening across the labor market and education pipeline.
Turning Regional Data Into Regional Solutions
The State of Healthcare Workforce Forum is part of a larger effort to move from conversation to coordinated action through the Central Texas Healthcare Partnership.
Ashley King, Director of Healthcare Partnerships for Workforce Solutions Capital Area, and Laura Rosen, Healthcare Sector Partnerships Manager for WSRCA, are helping connect healthcare employers with education, workforce, training, and community partners around shared priorities.
The sector partnership model gives employers a direct voice in workforce development while creating a structure for organizations across the region to tackle common challenges together.
Now, the Central Texas Healthcare Workforce Needs and Education Pipeline Study adds another important piece to that work.
By examining where jobs are growing, which occupations are in greatest demand, what employers are experiencing, and how the region's education and training pipeline aligns with those needs, partners can better identify where resources and collaboration can make the greatest difference.
For employers, that can mean stronger and more reliable talent pipelines. For educators and training providers, it provides information to help align programs with changing industry needs. For students and job seekers, it can lead to clearer pathways into careers offering opportunity and long-term growth.
Building Central Texas' Healthcare Workforce Together
The second annual State of Healthcare Workforce Forum demonstrated what regional workforce development looks like when research and collaboration come together.
Central Texas added nearly 25,000 healthcare jobs in just six years. More than 14,000 additional jobs are projected by 2031. Preparing people for those opportunities will require sustained cooperation among the employers who understand their workforce needs, the educators preparing future professionals, the organizations helping people overcome barriers, and the workforce partners connecting those pieces.
For WSRCA, co-hosting the forum and helping develop the new regional study are part of the same goal: ensuring communities throughout the Rural Capital Area have the information, partnerships, and workforce strategies they need to participate in Central Texas' continued growth.
The forum brought regional leaders together around the challenge. The new study helps show where the opportunities are.
Now, the work is turning that knowledge into stronger pathways, a deeper talent pipeline, and a healthcare workforce ready to serve Central Texas for years to come.
Explore the Central Texas Healthcare Workforce Needs and Education Pipeline Study to view regional and county-level workforce data, high-demand healthcare careers, education pipeline information, and recommendations for strengthening the region's healthcare workforce.