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…
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…
Broadening scope of practice (SOP) laws for nurse practitioners (NPs) has been suggested as a potential solution for increasing the composition productivity of NPs in in community health centers (CHCs). However, the effectiveness of broadening SOPs for NPs for this purpose remains unclear. This article describes a study that examined the data from over seven…
As health workforce shortages become more common in the United States, the use of temporary health care providers has increased. Federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) often experience staffing shortages and barriers to recruitment, but their use of temporary health care providers is not well understood. This article describes a study that analyzed data from 2013-2017…
There are many factors that contribute to the variability in quality of nursing education programs. While most research has focused on program variations that contribute to differences in National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) pass rates, less is known about how state level policies impact nursing program quality. This article describes a study that analyzed associations…
Many community health centers (CHCs) have begun adjusting their payment systems to alter their workforce configurations. However, little is known about how these workforce adjustments impact the quality of patient care. This abstract discusses the development of a simulation tool that would help CHCs use data to model different workforce configuration scenarios to maximize patient…
Hospitals have increasingly relied on nurse assistants to support nurses in the provision of patient care, yet knowledge about their contributions to the patient experience in US hospitals is limited. Although registered nurses are more impactful, nurse assistants are the more underdeployed staffing category. Given their lower labor costs, further employment of nurse assistants may…
As quality incentives are further integrated into payment systems, community health centers (CHCs) will need to optimize their workforce configuration to improve quality. Given the relative efficiency of advanced practice clinicians in producing quality, further hiring of these professionals is a cost‐effective investment for CHCs. This article explores optimal workforce configurations in the production of…
Advanced practice clinicians (APCs)—nurse practitioners and physician assistants—that are in the 90th percentile of community health centers (CHCs) provide about 1,840 adjusted-visits per year; whereas APCs in the 10th percentile CHCs provide about 978 adjusted-visits per year. Several important conditions were found among high productivity CHCs, including scheduling APCs and physicians for the same number…
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…
