Local health departments (LHDs) play a critical role in promoting community health but continue to face challenges related to funding, technology, workforce capacity, and infrastructure. Since 2020, restructuring among LHDs—including regionalization, consolidation, dissolution, and transfers of authority—has received increased attention, yet little is known about what drives these changes or how they affect the local…
Local health departments (LHDs) and healthcare delivery organizations frequently collaborate on community health assessments, emergency preparedness and response, infectious disease, behavioral health, and other population health priorities. These partnerships are especially important in rural areas, where organizations often face workforce shortages, limited healthcare resources, and challenges achieving economies of scale, while also benefiting from strong…
Supervision is essential for helping early career behavioral health clinicians (professionals with master’s or doctoral degrees and one to 3 years post-graduate experience) progress toward independent practice. However, there is limited understanding of what constitutes high-quality supervision, how effective it is, and how it may support workforce retention. This article describes key features and evidence…
State-based dental hygiene scope of practice (DH SOP) laws, regulations, and policies define the services that dental hygienists are authorized to perform and the supervision requirements under which they may provide those services. Variation in these laws across states can impact access to oral health care and contribute to workforce shortages in states with more…
Among public health agencies, expanding remote work opportunities by many state health departments (SHDs) has increased the pool of candidates for state positions, including people working at local health departments (LHDs). SHDs often pay better than LHDs, especially when compared with salaries among rural LHDs. Rural LHDs particularly struggle to recruit public health–trained employees, and…
Public health workforce challenges have become increasingly important in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and broader labor market disruptions. The Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey (PH WINS) provides critical national data on governmental public health employees, offering insight into workforce experiences, retention, and organizational needs. This article examines how trends identified in…
Research on the public health workforce has largely focused on governmental health departments, despite public health encompassing a much broader range of occupations and sectors. Adopting a more inclusive definition of the workforce would provide a fuller understanding of who contributes to public health, strengthen cross-sector collaboration, and improve data used for workforce planning and…
Midwifery-led care is associated with improved birth outcomes, fewer obstetric interventions, and reduced disparities in outcomes among underserved populations. Although efforts to expand the certified nurse-midwife (CNM) workforce have contributed to its growth, midwives still attend a relatively small share of US births, likely due in part to workforce barriers such as restrictive scope-of-practice laws…
Despite improvements in maternal and child health, significant inequities persist in the United States, including disparities in maternal and infant mortality, low birth weight, asthma, and developmental disabilities. A well-trained, supported, and diverse maternal and child health workforce is an important structural factor in addressing these inequities. Existing maternal and child health indices capture some…
Legal scope of practice for dental hygienists differs by state. Research suggests that broader scope of practice laws at the state level can improve oral health outcomes. This infographic, an update from when it was last updated in 2024, illustrates allowable tasks for dental hygienists by each state in the United States, to help planners…
