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…
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…
The health care industry lost 1.5 million jobs between March and April 2020, the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US. Losses spread across the major health care sectors of hospitals (22.7%), ambulatory care settings (39.6%), and long-term care (LTC) facilities (37.7%). The job loss in LTC facilities (eg, skilled nursing facilities, residential care,…
The traditional role of physical therapists is to prescribe exercises and provide hands-on care to help patients develop, maintain, and restore functional ability that may be limited by injuries, aging, and chronic or progressive diseases. A primary impact of the COVID-19 emergency on physical therapists has been an involuntarily reduction of employment due to a…
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…
The primary role of the clinical laboratory workforce is to collect and analyze biological specimens to provide patients and medical providers information for preventing, diagnosing, treating, and managing disease. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the critical role that the clinical laboratory workforce plays in the healthcare system. This policy brief focuses on 6 clinical lab…
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a dynamic effect on the health workforce. Redeployment, furlough, and layoff are among the terms used to describe various work statuses. Some terms are related and overlapping, potentially causing confusion for employees, media, policymakers, and researchers who may be interested in tracking health care employment trends throughout the pandemic. This…
Increasing nursing workforce diversity is essential to quality health care. Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) programs are a primary path to becoming a registered nurse and an important source of nursing diversity. While public institutions contribute the highest total number of diverse ADN graduates, private for-profit institutions have the highest percentage of non-white graduates. This…
Nonstandard work arrangements includes overlapping concepts of: 1) contingent work (based on self-employment status, length of work, method of payment, and connection to employer), 2) alternative work (ie, temporary agency worker, on-call worker, contract company worker, and independent contractor), and 3) electronically-mediated work (sometimes referred to as “gig work”). Between 1995 and 2015 the healthcare…
Due to the ongoing effects of the pandemic, the American Rescue Plan and the CARES act have provided major increases to healthcare funding. However, planning and accountability are needed to ensure that this new funding is spent responsibly and equitably to address the nations most pressing health needs. This article provides recommendations for organizations to…
