The nation faces a persistent shortage and maldistribution of primary care physicians (PCPs). A better understanding of PCP career typologies could help policy makers target interventions toward certain subgroups, rather than using a “one-size fits all” approach to improving PCP supply and distribution across settings and in rural areas. This article discusses findings from a…
During the COVID-19 pandemic, telemental health—including video and phone visits—became essential for delivering mental healthcare as in-person visits declined and demand increased. Regulatory and payment changes at both federal and state levels in the US enabled its rapid expansion, with usage rising from under 1% pre-pandemic to 39% of behavioral health visits between March and…
Community health workers are an important workforce for health care systems to achieve health equity and reduce health disparities in vulnerable communities. However, because CHWs are a non-licensed workforce who work across system settings with various job titles, it is difficult to estimate and characterize this workforce. This article discusses the estimated size and state…
Issues of workplace violence in health care have garnered increasing attention due to its impact on health care worker’s well-being and retention. Information on whether and how workplace violence rates vary between health care facilities and occupations is limited, particularly regarding growth over time. This article investigates trends in workplace violence for a variety of…
Amid a growing behavioral health crisis in the US, less than half of individuals who need services for mental health or substance use concerns receive care. Multiple factors impact access to behavioral health services, including payment, stigma, and the availability of a positioned behavioral health workforce in areas with the greatest need. Recent work demonstrates…
Despite evidence supporting the integration of pharmacists in team-based primary care, little information exists on the co-location of pharmacists with primary care physicians in the United States, and even less information on the factors associated with these models in primary care. This article analyzes the degree to which pharmacists are co-located with primary care practices…
The Program on Health Workforce Research and Policy at UNC’s Sheps Center for Health Services Research recently developed two tools to query and visualize health workforce data. One tool visualizes county-level data on 200,000 licensed health professionals across 19 health professions in North Carolina. The other tool describes the migration of residents in training and…
While federal graduate medical education (GME) reform efforts have stalled, states have become increasingly active in determining ways to target Medicaid and state appropriations toward producing the workforce needed to meet population health needs. However, states have voiced the need for better data to determine where to target these funds and evaluate their return on…
In the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic, health care decision-makers in North Carolina needed information about the available health workforce in order to conduct workforce surge planning and to anticipate concerns about professional or geographic workforce shortages. This article describes how data was used in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in North…
Medication is increasingly used to treat opioid use disorder (OUD) in primary care. It incorporates medication (ie, buprenorphine) with behavioral therapy and/or psychosocial services. Targeted planning for co-location of DEA-waivered buprenorphine prescribers and behavioral health (BH) clinicians could increase the use of MOUD. Presently, less than half of all waivered prescribers, outside of hospitals, are…
