Program on Health Workforce
Research and Policy
 
Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
July 2014
In This Issue
News

Program Staff Participate in National Governors Association's  Health Workforce Policy Academy 

In May, the NGA convened an 18-month Health Workforce Policy Academy to assist states in developing and implementing statewide plans for their healthcare workforce. Erin Fraher and Katie Gaul are two of the Policy Academy's expert faculty, which is available to assist states with their efforts.

 

North Carolina was one of the seven states selected to participate. The state's core team is being led by the North Carolina Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services and the Office of the Governor. Tom Ricketts, Erin Fraher and Katie Gaul are members of the core team. 

 

Health Workforce 
Seminar Series

The Program hosts an interdisciplinary seminar series.  Speakers and dates for our fall series will be announced in early September. Click here to access slides from previous seminars.

 

Health Workforce Technical Assistance Center  (HWTAC)   

The HWTAC hosts a series of webinars relating to health workforce data collection, analysis and research. The next webinar is on Wednesday, July 30th at 2:00 EDT. The topic will be "Community  Health Assessment How-to." For more information and to access the webinar on the day of the meeting, click here.

The HWTAC is a collaboration between the Center for Health Workforce Studies at SUNY-Albany and our Program on Health Workforce Research and Policy at the Sheps Center.

Staff News 

Rachel Machta, one of our Graduate Research Assistants and a doctoral student in the Department of Health Policy and Management at UNC-Chapel Hill, has been awarded a NRSA Pre-Doctoral Fellowship in Health Services Research at the Sheps Center. Congratulations Rachel!   

 

We are pleased to welcome Franklin Niblock to our team for the summer. Franklin is a rising second-year medical student at UNC-Chapel Hill. He will be learning the ins and outs of health workforce research and policy, with a specific focus on the pediatric surgery workforce. Welcome aboard, Franklin!   

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We are pleased to share our July newsletter with you. If you have any questions or comments about our Program or the content of this newsletter, please zip us an email. We would also enjoy hearing about how you use our data and products. 
Data in Action
In February 2014, the North Carolina General Assembly Joint Subcommittee on Midwives asked our team to present data to inform legislative members about workforce trends related to Certified Nurse Midwives (CNMs) and physicians who provided obstetric delivery services. The committee was asked to study whether CNMs should be given more flexibility in the practice of midwifery, and in particular, to look at regulations related to physician supervision of CNMs. The committee drafted new legislation to be introduced at the upcoming legislative session. Concerns about access to care were specifically mentioned in the legislative report, which cited HPDS data, noting that "half of NC counties have three or fewer obstetricians, 31 counties have no obstetricians, and 46 counties have no CNMs." 

Click here for the slides we presented.
Click here for the Subcommittee's final report.
Click here for the draft House bill (H1169/S819)
Presentations
The sharing of knowledge is a key activity for us, and we have many presentations to share. Here's a list of recent ones, with the name of the lead presenter.

To access the rest of our presentations, click here.
Pharmacists in North Carolina:
Steady Numbers,Changing Roles


Our recent report provides answers to questions about the state of the pharmacist workforce in North Carolina. The report shows that the supply of pharmacists in NC appears to be in balance with demand and continues to show strong growth, due to new graduates from in-state Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) programs, and from pharmacists relocating here from outside the state. As a result, competition for existing jobs and residency positions has increased, and signing bonuses, common in the past, have disappeared. At the same time, emerging models of healthcare delivery have created new roles for pharmacists, through the expansion of their role as direct patient care providers on healthcare teams. Click here to read the complete report.
2012 North Carolina Health Professions Data Book

The Program is happy to announce the publication of the 2012 North Carolina Health Professions Data Book. The Data Book, published since 1981, is the source of information for over 19 health professions in North Carolina. Information in the Data Book includes changes in the supply of health professionals and changes in practitioner to population ratios at the state, regional, and county level.

 
Click
here to read the complete report.
Click here to access county-level data.