Lei Chen, PhD, is a new postdoctoral fellow with the UCSF HWRC and the National Institute on Aging-funded AWARD Network, which is linked to the HWRC.

Lei completed her doctorate from the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and her research interest focuses on social policy, long-term services and supports, immigrants’ access to health care, aging and technology, and cross-cultural studies. Her dissertation used survey data to examine relationships among disability status, financial strain, and health and well-being among people with long-term care needs in California. In addition to her research, she assisted the policymaking process of the Master Plan on Aging in California and will continue to collaborate with UCLA researchers while she works with our HWRC and AWARD Network teams.

Welcome Lei!

-- Joanne Spetz, PhD

Director, UCSF Health Workforce Research Center on Long-Term Care

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

As the aging US population grows and outstrips supply of long-term care providers, how might new technologies help provide care and support recruitment and retention of the LTC workforce?

Susan Chapman, Jackie Miller, and Joanne Spetz at the UCSF Health Workforce Research Center reviewed the field and found technologies that could improve care and support care delivery.

Many products and services are designed to complement the work of staff and thus benefit the workforce in some way, whether through optimizing tasks, improving understanding of patients’ situation, and/or improving ability to provide better-coordinated care. These benefits generally make the jobs of workers easier or more satisfying and improve the quality of care that workers provide to patients.

Some examples of the technologies include a platform to match worker availability with client needs; wearable devices to pull health data that can be shared with clinicians; and tools to help clients with socializing and medication reminders when care providers are away. Read the complete article.

Moving Forward: Nursing Home Quality Coalition

Across the United States, 1.4 million people live in nursing homes, where they do not necessarily receive quality, equitable, person-centered care, which likely is in part due to an over-burdened workforce. To create change, the Moving Forward Nursing Home Quality Coalition is promoting and testing policies and practices to improve nursing home care through strengthening how the United States provides, pays for, and oversees nursing home care.

The coalition has now published nine action plans, including two on workforce, both of which focus on increasing wages for CNAs in nursing homes.

Listen to an episode of the Elevate Eldercare podcast with Kezia Scales, who collaborates closely with the UCSF HWRC, and Jasmine Travers from the coalition’s workforce committee.

Recent Presentations from UCSF HWRC-LTC Investigators

HWRC researchers participated at the AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting this June in Seattle WA, including:

Susan Chapman and Jackie Miller: Employer Perspectives on CHW/P Roles and Employment Opportunities in California

Janet Coffman (moderator): Healing the Healers: Strategies for Alleviating Burnout Among Health Care Workers

Janet Coffman: Is Telehealth As Effective As in-Person Care? Evidence from a Rapid Literature Review

Janet Coffman: New Nurse Practitioner Graduates Least Confident about Ability to Perform Procedures and Interpret Radiology Findings

Janet Coffman and Jackie Miller: The Impact of Unlicensed Workers from Pregnancy through the Fourth Trimester

Matthew Jura: Assessing the Impact of Policy Incentives on California Dental Provider Participation in Medicaid

Matthew Jura: Adult Utilization of Medicaid Dental Benefits in California: Impact of Policy Changes 2014-2019

Anil Makam: Racial and Ethnic Disparities in SGLT2 or GLP1 Prescriptions by Payer: A Nationally Representative MEPS Study

Anil Makam: Novel Life-Saving Diabetes Medications: Are They Available to Medicaid Fee-for-Service Beneficiaries?

Ulrike Muench: The Impact of COVID-19 on Gender Earnings Differences of Registered Nurses in the United States

Ulrike Muench: Delivery of Behavioral Health Medication Management by Nurse Practitioners

Joanne Spetz: The Role of Clinician Peer Networks in Buprenorphine Adoption

Susan Chapman was a panelist on building advanced roles for medical assistants and other allied health staff in team-based care models in Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) at the July Central Valley Health Network conference in Modesto, CA.

Susan Chapman presented on shortages in allied health professions at the July California Central Coast Health Care Workforce Summit in Santa Barbara, CA. The Central Coast Healthcare Workforce Collaborative (CCHWC) includes hospitals, colleges, universities, and workforce development agencies throughout a three-county region.

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 beginning in 2013. 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: Susan Chapman, PhD, RN, FAAN

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

Follow on Twitter: @ucsfhwrc