Workforce
The Issue
With more people expected to rely on the American health care system in the near future, there is an urgent need to develop new skills among the health care workforce and attract others to health care professions, especially in areas related to primary care.
Why It Matters
- The United States population and health care workforce are aging. This aging population and workforce set the stage for shortages and a sweeping loss of experience in all health fields, particularly in nursing, as Baby Boomers retire over the next 20 years.
- The Affordable Care Act (ACA) provides health coverage to more than 30 million previously uninsured Americans. The increased number of insured Americans will increase demand for primary care services that are already scarce in many areas.
- America is increasingly racially and ethnically diverse, which challenges health care providers to deliver more culturally competent care in the near future.
- Emerging diseases and technological and scientific innovations demand that health workers continually adapt and work in teams to learn and update the skills necessary to facilitate interprofessional collaboration.
Policy Context
Increasing and modernizing the health care workforce is a major goal of the ACA. The health reform law contains dozens of provisions related to health care workforce issues including strengthening primary care through payment reform, academic and financial assistance programs and examining the changing role of front-line health care workers like nurse practitioners who are increasingly providing primary care to medically underserved communities.
Women continue to outnumber men in the nursing profession, by more than 15 to 1 in 2008. But the trend line is toward more diversity. Among those who became registered nurses after 1990, the ratio is just 10 to 1. Men account for 6.6 percent of the nursing population today, up from less than 3 percent in 1980.
Source: Health Resources and Services Administration
Workforce Research
- Results of the 2011 Medical School Enrollment Survey
Association of American Medical Colleges, 05/01/12 - Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome and Associated Health Care Expenditures
American Medical Association, 04/30/12 - Physician Frustration Grows, Income Falls -- But a Ray of Hope
Medscape Business of Medicine, 04/04/12 - Physicians' Needs in Coping With Emotional Stressors
Archives of Surgery, 03/19/12 - Survey Shows that at Least Some Physicians are not Always Open or Honest with Patients
Health Affairs, 02/08/12