News and Notes

UCSF Health Workforce Research Center on Long-Term Care

December 2025

Director's Note

The end of 2025 is upon us, and the UCSF Health Workforce Research Center team of staff, post-docs, and faculty held a small gathering to celebrate our accomplishments over the past year. We transitioned to a new Deputy Director, Laura Wagner, celebrated the retirement of Susan Chapman, completed multiple reports and journal articles, and launched a set of four new studies. Learn more about our activities of the past few months below!

Joanne Spetz, PhD, FAAN

Director

Highlighted Stories

2025 Terrie Fox Wetle Rising Star Award in Health Services and Aging Research awarded to UCSF's Lauren Hunt

The American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR) has selected AWARD Network member Dr. Lauren Hunt for the 2025 Terrie Fox Wetle Rising Star Award in Health Services and Aging Research. The honor recognizes Dr. Hunt as an emerging leader whose innovative research is transforming care for older adults with dementia.

An Associate Professor at UCSF's Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, Dr. Hunt combines large-scale data analysis with multidisciplinary collaboration to address critical gaps in geriatric care. Her research focuses on three interconnected areas: how older adults with dementia use health services at the end of life, what palliative care needs look like across different care settings, and how to identify potentially burdensome medical interventions in vulnerable elderly populations.

Dr. Hunt received the Wetle Award at a ceremony hosted by AFAR at the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) Annual Scientific Meeting in Boston, MA, in November.

New Reports from the UCSF Health Workforce Research Center on Long-Term Care

We’re pleased to share two new reports that highlight emerging insights and opportunities to strengthen care for older adults:

Nursing Roles and Interactions with Telehealth in Long-Term Care: An Interview with Nurses

This report explores how telehealth is reshaping care delivery in long-term care settings and where additional support is needed. Read the report here.

A Dementia-Competent Workforce: A Narrative Review and Analysis of Dementia Certification Training Programs

This review examines the landscape of dementia training programs, identifying gaps and strategies to better prepare the workforce for the growing needs of people living with dementia. Read the report here.

Resources

AWARD Network Recordings Available for Viewing

Supported by the National Institute on Aging, the Advancing Workforce Analysis and Research for Dementia (AWARD) Network is dedicated to advancing research on the health care workforce that supports people living with dementia. Each month, the Network offers a webinar—recorded and posted on its website for later viewing. The fall webinar series is available for viewing.

September 2025

Family Caregivers in the Dementia Care Workforce: The Case of Pain Management - Jeffrey Boon, PhD, MSN. Watch Here

October 2025

An Age-Friendly Approach to Dementia Care: Applying the 4Ms to Interprofessional Team-Based Care - Andrea Wershof Schwartz, MD, MPH. Watch Here

November 2025

Physician and Advanced Practitioner Workforce Topics in the Care of People Living with Dementia - Kira Ryskina, MD, MSHP, and Paul Katz, MD Watch Here

December 2025

Recent Policy Developments Impacting the Long-Term Care Workforce: A Fireside Chat with Joanne Spetz, PhD, and Kezia Scales, PhD, moderated by Bianca Frogner, PhD. The recording will be posted on our website soon.

Watch our Webinar webpage to register for future webinars and view recordings of past webinars.

Recent Publications

Chen, L., & Kietzman, K. (2025). The role of financial difficulty on the health and well-being of adults with functional limitations that may require long-term services and supports. Social Science & Medicine, 347, Article 118725. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118725

Chen, L., Peterson, K., & Spetz, J. (2025). Compiling data of workforce policies: A data compendium about direct care workers caring for people with dementia. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 26(12), Article 105939. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamda.2025.105939

Samson, Z., Wagner, L. M., Hunt, L. J., & Muench, U. (2026). Predictors of job turnover among home health versus hospital nurses: An observational study using the National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 174, Article 105301. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2025.105301

Segelman, M., Rowan, N., Mukamel, D. B., & Wagner, L. M. (2025). Changes in nursing home staffing instability throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 26(11), 105837. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamda.2025.105837

Sideman, A. B., Dulaney, S., Merrilees, J., Barclay, M., Hernandez de Jesus, A., & Possin, K. L. (2025). Dissemination of the Care Ecosystem collaborative care model for dementia. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 73(7), 2220–2228. https://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.19363

Sideman, A. B., Merrilees, J., Dulaney, S., Allawala, M., Barclay, M., Rosenbloom, M., Hanson, L. R., Ward, K. T., Hess, M., Olney, N. T., Lum, H. D., Sawyer, R. J., & Possin, K. L. (2025). Facilitators and challenges in the implementation of the Care Ecosystem at six clinical sites in the United States: A qualitative study. Alzheimer’s & Dementia, 21(11), e70917. https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.70917

Spetz, J., Bates, T., & Wagner, L. (2025). Predictors of registered nurse employment and earnings in long-term care. Nursing Outlook, 73(6), Article 102586. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2025.102586

Spetz, J., & Dugan, J. (2026). A systematic approach to containing healthcare spending. In K. A. Goudreau & M. C. Smolenski (Eds.), Health policy and advanced practice nursing: Impact and implications (4th ed.). Springer Publishing Company.

Media Mentions

Joanne Spetz:

America's Healthcare Time Bomb

(Newsweek - Sept 23)

Janet Coffman:

To Find Workers, Hospitals Are Training Teenagers

(The Wall Street Journal - Oct 12)

Ulrike Muench:

Have efforts to curb opioids left nursing home residents in pain? UCSF study raises concerns

(The San Francisco Chronicle - Nov 3)

Janet Coffman:

Nurses, Teachers Could Lose 'Professional' Status. What Does That Mean for Fresno?

(GV Wire - Dec 4)

Recent Presentations

On December 4th, Lauren Hunt, PhD, gave a talk for the National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation entitled: What We Do and (Mostly) Don't Know About the Hospice and Palliative Care Workforce.

About UCSF HWRC

The UCSF Health Workforce Research Center on Long-Term Care (UCSF HWRC) is a dynamic hub of policy-oriented research and investigation, established through support from the National Center for Health Workforce Analysis in the U.S. Bureau of Health Workforce. UCSF HWRC closely examines the health care workforce and helps shape policies to meet expanding LTC needs. Our research includes the workforce in nursing homes, home health care, adult day care, community-based settings, and home settings, and includes all LTC occupations.

Director: Joanne Spetz, PhD, FAAN

Deputy Director: Laura Wagner, PhD, RN, FAAN

Visit: https://healthworkforce.ucsf.edu/about

Follow on Twitter: @ucsfhwrc or Bluesky: @ucsfhwrc.bsky.social

This newsletter highlights new HWRC publications, as well as workforce-related research conducted by our team at the Institute for Health Policy Studies and Healthforce Center at UCSF, UCSF School of Nursing and other research partners.