Reforms to address the oral health care needs of vulnerable populations in long-term care (LTC) settings should start with defining a clearer standard of oral care required for this population. This will allow best practices in policy, practice, and accountability to be structured around care that improves patients’ oral health. This article identifies and classifies…
Providing behavioral health to inmates with mental health and substance abuse disorders in correctional facilities is important for helping to maintain a safe prison environment and reducing rates of recidivism once those inmates transition out of the prison system. However, due to behavioral health workforce shortages and other factors, most prisoners do not receive adequate…
Musculoskeletal conditions are incredibly common, affecting more than half of adults in the United States. Physical therapy (PT) is recommended as an essential component in the treatment of these conditions. However, many primary care physicians (PCPs), who are the first point of contact for those patients seeking treatment for musculoskeletal conditions, are often encouraged to…
Social workers are now doing more of their work in integrated health settings that require them to perform a variety of different roles and skills. As these settings are often more complex, the roles that social workers perform in them is not well understood. This article describes a study which utilized an online survey of…
As the aging population increases, the demand for long-term care (LTC) is also expected to increase substantially. The patients in need of LTC are also expected to become more racially diverse over time. As patients tend to prefer care providers who share their cultural and racial background, it will be increasingly important to understand the…
The National Health Service Corps (NHSC) provides assistance to provider organizations in health professional shortage areas (HPSAs) in the form of loan repayments to providers who agree to work at eligible sites. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) invested $234 million in the NHSC, allowing them to provide support to over 14,000 providers. This report describes…
Many Americans do not have access to adequate care for mental health and substance use conditions due to living in mental health professional shortage areas, cost of care, or other factors. Telehealth is seen as a promising strategy for reducing costs and increasing access to care for patients. This report describes a study that utilized…
The expansion of access to treatment and preventative services has led to an increase in interprofessional healthcare teams. Integrating social workers onto these teams requires that all members of the team understand what roles and functions social workers can bring to the table. This article describes a case of a social worker on an interprofessional…
Many Nebraskans suffer from behavior health issues, but many in rural areas are not able to get the care they need due to socio-economic status, stigma, and the lack of qualified providers in areas that are geographically isolated. This report describes a study that examined behavioral health workforce data and conducted interviews with providers and…
In recent years, the next generation accountable care organization (Next Gen ACO) model has emerged as a solution for lowering costs and increasing quality of care. However, there is little understanding about how workforce roles differ in this new model of care. This report describes a study that conducted interviews with leadership at eighteen different…
