Registered nurses (RNs) are the largest licensed health profession in the US and a key component of the long-term care (LTC) workforce. RNs who work in LTC settings earn less than those who work in hospitals and Black and Hispanic RNs employed in urban hospitals earn less than White and Asian nurses, even after controlling…
Studies have shown that wage disparities exist across race and ethnicity within selected health care occupations. These wage disparities negatively affect the industry’s ability to recruit and retain a diverse workforce in varying fields. This article aims to determine whether wage disparities by race and ethnicity persist across health care occupations and whether disparities vary across…
Nonstandard work arrangements includes overlapping concepts of: 1) contingent work (based on self-employment status, length of work, method of payment, and connection to employer), 2) alternative work (ie, temporary agency worker, on-call worker, contract company worker, and independent contractor), and 3) electronically-mediated work (sometimes referred to as “gig work”). Between 1995 and 2015 the healthcare…
There are large variations in the level of agreement among areas that are identified as “rural” under various rurality definitions. Rural-urban disparities are sensitive to the specific definition and which population characteristic that is being considered. This article explores 8 federal rural definitions and the degree to which they identify the same areas as rural….
The teaching health center (THC) programs allows community health centers (CHCs) to be engaged in residency programs as a way to address primary care shortages in underserved areas. However, little is known about the impact of these programs on CHCs. This article describes a study that compared the data of THC and non-THC health centers…
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and recent federal and state policy shifts impacting behavioral health care delivery, the use of telebehavioral health has rapidly increased. This growth appears to be here to stay and research must be conducted on what this means for the field. This article describes behavioral health provider perspectives on the use…
Despite considerable research on nursing turnover, few studies have considered turnover among nurses working in home health care. Between 2016 and 2019, the average annual separation rate of home health nurses was over 30%, with most separations occurring voluntarily. Schedule volatility and turnover were positively associated for full-time nurses, but not for part-time nurses. This…
Behavioral health disorders have a wide range of treatments, however, recently there has been growing use of peer providers with lived experiences of mental health and substance use for the prevention and treatment of these disorders. Peers are effective providers of behavioral health treatment who encourage recovery through resilience building, empowerment, and self-advocacy. There remains…
Several states and cities established alternate care sites in locations such as convention centers and dormitories, to provide sub-acute care for people with SARS-Cov2 infection. This policy brief examines the roles of these sites, their staffing mix, their recruitment and deployment strategies, and their training approaches.
The primary role of the clinical laboratory workforce is to collect and analyze biological specimens to provide patients and medical providers information for preventing, diagnosing, treating, and managing disease. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the critical role that the clinical laboratory workforce plays in the healthcare system. This policy brief focuses on 6 clinical lab…
