Geographic disparities in healthcare access remain a persistent challenge in Medicaid, prompting growing interest in area-level measures that can help identify communities with the greatest unmet needs. Multidimensional socioeconomic indexes, such as the Social Vulnerability Index (SVI), may provide a more comprehensive way to target healthcare resources than traditional income-based measures alone. Understanding how these…
The Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) will invest $50 billion to strengthen healthcare access and workforce capacity in rural communities across the United States. As states develop proposals to access these funds, they need reliable data to understand the providers currently serving rural Medicaid populations and identify areas with workforce shortages. The US Medicaid Primary…
Appropriate prenatal care is critical to ensuring safe childbirth, but many populations face barriers that create inequities in maternal health outcomes. During the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth emerged as a promising way to expand access, therefore driving its rapid adoption. This shift highlights the need to better understand the workforce providing telehealth for pregnancy care. This…
Community Health Workers (CHWs) are increasingly recognized as essential healthcare providers in the United States. Valued for their deep understanding of the communities they serve, CHWs play a crucial role in building high-impact partnerships with low-income, underserved, and racial and ethnic minority populations. Despite the recognized value of CHWs in improving health outcomes, the integration…
This webinar explores the use of telehealth and general access to care for underserved populations both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Presenters discuss analysis of 3 unique data sets to examine: 1) Is use of telehealth associated with greater access to care before or during the pandemic?; 2) Is payment parity for telehealth associated…
The 2023 Symposium featured experts from 9 federally-funded health workforce research centers discussing the most pressing issues facing the health workforce today. Recorded live on October 11, 2023 at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. SESSION 1: Health Career Pathways – What’s Working? This session describes several very different health career paths—some that are…
Significant Federal investments have motivated many community health centers (CHCs) to implement electronic health records (EHRs) in recent years. Because CHCs are known to use flexible and innovative staffing models, their uptake of EHRs creates a unique opportunity to study how new technology intersects with staffing changes to influence care delivery. This report helps to…
Telehealth has long been viewed as an important pathway for increasing access to care for underserved populations, while providing high quality care at low cost. The spread of telehealth in the United States, however, has been hampered by a range of reimbursement, equipment costs, and licensure barriers. This report examines the extent to which…
Since Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) were first recognized in Medicare regulations in 2011, their numbers have been growing rapidly. Yet little is known about the way delivery systems adjusted to the change, and specifically about how those changes affect the health care workforce in hospitals. This report provides a descriptive analysis of workforce differences between…
Care coordination is seen as essential for allowing health systems to adapt to new payment models and policies. However, implementation of care coordination is rarely standardized and can be organized in many different ways. This article describes a study that conducted interviews with leadership and staff at four different health systems participating in new payment…
