The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a profound impact on the health workforce in the United States. Current issues facing the health workforce include vaccine mandates, workforce shortages, and resiliency of the workforce in the face of burnout. At the same time, while some of the changes to state and federal laws regarding the delivery…
Pharmacists provide a broad spectrum of services depending on their practice setting and scope-of-practice laws within their state. Lately, pharmacists have been increasingly used in a variety of ways, taking on roles such as medication therapy management, chronic disease management, patient education, health promotion, and disease prevention. To take on this surge in demand, states…
Pharmacists are increasingly recognized as crucial members of the health care team. To date, no single source of information exists that best characterizes the increasingly complex nature of the pharmacist workforce. Improving awareness of the potential roles of pharmacists would help to more effectively incorporate them into the health care team and improve care. This…
Therapy assistants represent approximately half of the therapy workforce in skilled nursing facilities. Employment of therapy assistants enables skilled nursing facilities to provide more therapy services at lower costs. As new payment mechanisms provide incentives for therapy in skilled nursing facilities, employment of therapy assistants may be a cost-effective way to continue to provide services…
In order for the current health workforce to meet the increasing demand brought about by the pandemic, health care delivery organizations, educators, and government leaders will need to work together to adapt regulations to expand workforce capacity. Strategies such as expanding scopes of practice, developing cross-state licensure programs, and increasing telehealth services are essential. This…
This webinar is a discussion with leaders of Health Workforce Research Centers (HWRCs) to get their perspectives on COVID-19 impacts on the health workforce. Webinar participants will: Gain insight into state responses to quickly build health workforce surge capacity Learn about COVID-19 workforce resources available on the Health Workforce Technical Assistance Center website Hear about…
Information on the supply of workers in a local job market is important when determining whether there are qualified workers to fill health care jobs in demand. The American Community Survey (ACS), a publicly available annual survey of over 3.5 million households conducted by the US Census Bureau, has been a regular source of information…
This rapid-response brief provides information about the respiratory therapist workforce in the US. It includes descriptions of the supply, distribution, and education pathways of the workforce. The brief also addresses COVID-19 emergency concerns about the respiratory therapist workforce capacity and examples of state approaches to address workforce gaps.
Many healthcare organizations are rethinking provider roles and responsibilities to help their workforce best serve the needs of their patients. At the same time, regulations at the state and organizational levels restrict providers scope of practice. This article discusses potential adjustments to scope of practice regulations to allow healthcare organizations to provide the best possible…
Chronic pain is widespread among US adults, and overreliance on pharmacological approaches to managing this pain has contributed to the nation’s opioid addiction crisis. There is growing recognition of the importance of directing patients towards non-pharmacological approaches to manage pain. This report compares 10 different health care occupations and certified practitioners in providing non-pharmacological pain…
