CASPER — In the 2025 fiscal year, the Wyoming Department of Health paid $16.8 million for contracted labor services to fill vacancies in nursing positions at various state-run, direct care facilities.

Those numbers were shared during the Oct. 28 meeting of the subcommittee on the Wyoming Department of Health Budget. The three-member subcommittee was created to go over and make decisions regarding the department’s $2.2 billion biennium budget.

Rep. Ken Pendergraft, R-Sheridan, the subcommittee’s chairman, said the state heard in January that it may face a $500 million shortfall in coming years.

“Our intent is to, if cuts are necessary, to make them as judiciously and as carefully as possible so that as few people are affected as possible,” Pendergraft said.

This was the third meeting of

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