Topics

This policy brief describes workforce challenges faced by rural health care delivery systems and how pre-pandemic financial instability in rural health care facilities may have contributed to the challenges experienced by the rural health workforce during the pandemic. Available federal pandemic funding to address rural health workforce needs is also discussed.

This article examines various approaches to train, recruit, and employ doulas, as well as what system-level changes are needed to address health inequities in underserved communities and expand access to birth doula services.

This report examines why and how background checks on the health workforce are used; the broad variation of laws, regulations, and policies that govern them; their potential misuse; and ways to use background checks to help ensure patient safety while supporting health workforce development.

This policy brief focuses on 6 clinical lab occupations (medical laboratory assistants, phlebotomists, histotechnicians, histotechnologists, medical laboratory technicians, and medical laboratory scientists) to provide a better understanding of the clinical laboratory workforce, as well as state responses to the pandemic for this workforce.

This brief defines the range of work statuses that one can hold, identifies areas where overlap may create confusion, and discusses the potential long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on employment in the health care industry.