FSU Health expands efforts as North Florida faces growing healthcare worker shortage
Tallahassee, Florida – North Florida is facing a healthcare workforce challenge that is expected to become more serious in the years ahead. As the state’s population grows older and larger, the demand for doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals is increasing at a time when many workers are approaching retirement.
Florida State University is responding through FSU Health, its universitywide academic health system that brings together education, clinical care and research. The goal is not simply to train more healthcare workers, but to prepare them to serve communities where medical care is needed most.
The challenge is particularly clear in rural parts of North Florida. Many communities have fewer physicians per resident than other parts of the state, leaving some families with limited choices for primary and specialty care.
State workforce data shows that more than one-third of Florida’s practicing physicians are age 60 or older. At the same time, the number of Floridians age 65 and older is projected to reach 6.7 million by 2036, representing more than a quarter of the state’s population.
That combination creates a difficult equation. More people will need medical care, while a significant portion of the existing workforce will eventually leave practice.
A workforce analysis commissioned by the Florida Hospital Association and the Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida projects that Florida could face a shortage of about 18,000 physicians and nearly 60,000 nurses by 2035.
“The healthcare workforce shortage isn’t something any one hospital, university or health system can solve alone,” said Jeremy Slaga, vice president and chief clinical operations officer of FSU Health. “FSU Health was created to align education, research and patient care with the strengths of our clinical partners so we can prepare more healthcare professionals, expand access to care and create lasting health benefits for communities across North Florida.”
Training doctors for the communities that need them
FSU’s College of Medicine has been working on the workforce issue since it was founded in 2000. Its mission has included preparing physicians, physician assistants and other healthcare professionals to work with rural, medically underserved and aging populations.
That focus is closely tied to the university’s broader health strategy.
“As someone who grew up in rural Gadsden County, I understand how important it is for families to have access to quality healthcare close to home,”said Alma Littles, M.D., dean of the FSU College of Medicine and president of the Florida Medical Association. “That mission has guided our college from the beginning. We’re preparing physicians and other healthcare professionals who understand the needs of these communities and are committed to serving them.”
The university’s latest results show that many of its graduates are staying relatively close to Florida.
This year, all 120 FSU College of Medicine graduates who participated in the National Resident Matching Program matched into residency programs. Nearly half matched in Florida, while another 31% matched in neighboring Southeastern states.
That means nearly four out of five remained in the region.
The locations where doctors train can matter because physicians are more likely to establish practices near where they complete their residency. For Florida, expanding graduate medical education can therefore be an important way to retain doctors who are already familiar with the state’s communities and healthcare needs.
FSU’s Graduate Medical Education programs graduated a record 116 physicians this year. About 66% completed residencies or fellowships in primary care specialties.
The university is also expanding the number of programs available. In 2026, the College of Medicine assumed sponsorship of nine additional graduate medical education programs in Tallahassee, Sarasota, Cape Coral, Pensacola and Jacksonville.
The college now sponsors 32 programs that train 516 physicians statewide, with plans for additional growth.
Primary care remains a particular focus. Many of this year’s graduates entered specialties such as family medicine, internal medicine and pediatrics, areas that are central to keeping patients connected to routine and preventive care.
A growing need for nurses
Doctors are only part of the workforce equation. Florida also needs more nurses, and FSU’s College of Nursing is expanding to help meet that demand.
The college has increased enrollment and now admits students three times a year. The approach creates a year-round pipeline of graduates who can enter the nursing workforce rather than relying on a single annual graduating class.
More than 800 students are enrolled each year across the college’s undergraduate and graduate programs.
The university is also expanding its Bachelor of Science in Nursing program to FSU Panama City. The effort is supported by a $10 million gift from Bruce and Tracey Berkowitz and the Fairholme Foundation.
The funding will provide scholarship support for students from Bay, Walton and Gulf counties who plan to practice in the region. The aim is to strengthen the nursing workforce in Northwest Florida while making nursing education more accessible to students from the area.
“Florida’s nursing shortage demands innovative solutions,” said Jing Wang, dean of the FSU College of Nursing. “By expanding enrollment, creating new educational pathways and strengthening partnerships across the state, we’re preparing more nurses to provide high-quality, patient-centered care where they’re needed most. Our undergraduate expansion is just one element of our investment in the region; through pioneering efforts like our Smart Home Health Initiative, we are deepening our commitment to advance the health, well-being and future of these communities.”
The university’s approach extends beyond the traditional roles of doctors and nurses.
Healthcare increasingly relies on teams that bring together professionals with different skills. FSU is preparing students for careers in psychology, social work, nutrition, exercise science, rehabilitation, public health, health informatics, healthcare administration and physician assistant practice.
Those fields can be particularly important as healthcare providers address behavioral health, chronic diseases, rehabilitation, prevention and other needs that cannot be handled by one type of professional alone.
“Today’s healthcare challenges require teams of professionals with different expertise working together to improve the health of Florida’s communities,” said Damon Andrew, dean of the Anne Spencer Daves College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences. “Across FSU, we’re preparing graduates who understand how nutrition, exercise, behavioral health, human development, education and other factors intersect to shape lifelong health and well-being. Whether in schools, clinics, or community settings, our graduates play essential roles in improving health and quality of life for individuals and families.”
That team-based model is a central part of FSU Health’s broader strategy. The university is connecting education across several disciplines with clinical partnerships and research, with the expectation that better coordination can improve care for patients.
Taking healthcare into rural communities
Training more professionals is only one piece of the response. FSU is also expanding efforts to address healthcare challenges directly in rural communities.
The College of Medicine recently received more than $19 million through the federal Rural Health Transformation Program. The funding will support six projects focused on issues that affect rural residents, including workforce development, behavioral health, preventive care, food insecurity, telehealth and at-home care.
Two of the projects will focus on Northwest Florida, which serves as a central hub for FSU Health. Four others will operate in Southwest Florida.
The projects reflect a recognition that access to healthcare is influenced by more than the number of doctors in a community. Transportation, food access, behavioral health needs and the ability to receive care at home can all affect a person’s health.
Telehealth and at-home care can be especially useful in rural areas, where patients may have to travel longer distances to reach a medical facility.
Building a larger academic health system
FSU Health’s expansion is also visible in new facilities and clinical partnerships.
The FSU Health Research and Collaboration Building is under construction on the Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare campus. The facility will include space for clinical research and laboratories, as well as a family medicine residency clinic.
The building is intended to bring education, research and patient care closer together. For students and medical residents, that can mean more opportunities to learn in a clinical setting. For researchers, it creates additional room for studies tied to real-world healthcare needs.
FSU is also expanding its partnership with Tallahassee Memorial while continuing development of FSU Health Panama City Beach.
An outpatient medical office building is already serving patients in Panama City Beach, while construction is underway on a new hospital.
Those projects add a physical dimension to the university’s academic health strategy. Instead of keeping medical education and research separate from patient care, FSU Health is building connections among all three.
The effort comes at a time when Florida’s healthcare needs are becoming more complex. An aging population will require more care for chronic conditions and other long-term health concerns, while population growth is adding pressure to an already stretched workforce.
For rural North Florida, the challenge is even more immediate. Recruiting professionals can be difficult, and communities with smaller populations may struggle to support the same range of medical services available in larger cities.
FSU is betting that a long-term approach can help change that pattern: educate students in the state, provide opportunities to train in Florida, connect graduates with communities and expand clinical services in areas where access remains limited.
“At the end of the day, success is about people,” Slaga said. “If more Floridians can receive the care they need closer to home because we educated the physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals who chose to build their careers here, then we’ve accomplished what FSU Health was created to do.”
The healthcare workforce shortage will not disappear quickly. Florida’s population continues to change, and thousands of healthcare professionals will eventually retire. But through expanded medical and nursing education, new residency programs, rural health projects, research facilities and clinical partnerships, FSU Health is positioning itself as one part of a much larger response.
For North Florida communities, the measure of that effort will ultimately be practical. More doctors and nurses, more available services and fewer families forced to travel long distances for basic and specialized care would signal progress.
FSU Health’s strategy is built around reaching that point by connecting the university’s classrooms and research labs with hospitals, clinics and communities across the region. The work is already expanding, with additional training programs, rural initiatives and clinical facilities in development.
