Gov recruiting healthcare providers to NM

Readers across Texas found an unusual message in the Sunday editions of their newspapers: A letter from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, inviting the neighboring state's medical providers to come work in New Mexico.

In addition to the state's natural beauty, the governor touted New Mexico's commitment to "protecting women's health and abortion access" as one reason to move out of Texas, where nearly all abortions are banned.

"I certainly respect those of you who remain committed to caring for patients in Texas, but I also invite those of you who can no longer tolerate these restrictions to consider practicing next door in New Mexico," the letter read.

It continued, "We're fiercely committed to protecting medical freedoms here and we're taking steps to ensure that what happened in Texas never happens in New Mexico."

The open letters to Texas' healthcare providers — which appeared as full-page ads in Sunday's editions of the Houston Chronicle, Dallas Morning News, San Antonio Express-News, Austin American-Statesman and Fort Worth Star-Telegram — are the latest step in the New Mexico Department of Health's "Free to Provide" campaign.

Paid for by just under $400,000 in state and federal funding, the campaign in July established six billboards around Houston Medical Center that point interested providers to freetoprovidenm.org, a site that directs users to open health care positions across New Mexico.

While some pro-life advocates have objected to the use of taxpayer dollars to fund an ad campaign flaunting New Mexico's unrestricted abortion landscape, the bottom line is New Mexico needs more health care providers of all kinds, Health Secretary Patrick Allen said in an interview Sunday.

"We need more of everything, everywhere," he said.

A brief published in June by the Legislative Finance Committee found nearly 85% of New Mexico counties listed healthcare workers as their top occupational need. The state's Department of Workforce Solutions categorizes New Mexico's lack of healthcare workers — particularly nurses — as the state's worst labor shortage.

Though the ad campaign's political overtones may be particularly impactful for OB-GYNs, Allen said it's meant to encourage all kinds of providers to consider New Mexico.

"Whether you are a nurse, a resident, a physician assistant, or a doctor, we cordially and enthusiastically invite you to the Land of Enchantment, where you are free to care for your patients," Lujan Grisham wrote in the letter.

With the ad campaign just a couple weeks old, Allen said it's too soon to tell whether it's successfully enticed Texas providers to move to New Mexico. But he added the number of health care organizations now listing open positions through the site has more than tripled, growing from about 36 to nearly 120.

"We try to pull every lever we can think to pull," Allen said. "This is one that states like Texas have given us — and why on Earth wouldn't we go ahead and pull it?"