At Healthforce Center, our research on the health care workforce offers timely analysis and guidance for providers, policymakers and funders in addressing critical delivery and improvement challenges. We have a team of nationally recognized research experts who work to define issues and support health policy change with rigorous analysis, high-quality data and actionable recommendations.
Our expertise covers the entire health workforce — the full range of licensed professions, credentialed occupations, and emerging roles such as community health workers and peer providers, and across all types of settings from acute to long-term care. We specialize in examining evolving trends in care models, care team composition, and promising new models for the delivery of high-quality health care.
Committed to Improving Health Equity
Our commitment to improving health equity and ensuring a diverse health workforce translates into research that emphasizes expanding cultural competence and language concordance, promoting workforce diversity through education and development programs, and evaluating care models that ensure health equity.
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This study of California nurse practitioners (NPs) and certified nurse-midwives (CNMs) was conducted in early 2017. In November 2016, there were 20,337 NPs living in California, of whom 569 also were CNMs (“dual certified”). Another 582 people had CNM-only certification. Surveys were mailed to 2,...
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As the registered nurse (RN) baby boomers retire, there is a need for more highly skilled and experienced nurses in California, according to a new survey published by Healthforce Center at UCSF and the UCSF Institute for Health Policy Studies. This report summarizes the findings from the eighth...
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This report summarizes the findings from a survey of general acute care hospital employers of registered nurses (RNs) in California conducted in fall 2017. This is the eighth annual survey of hospital RN employers; these surveys provide an opportunity to evaluate overall demand for RNs in the state...
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This qualitative descriptive study assesses perspectives of US community-based palliative care program leaders on staffing, recruitment, and training. Leaders from academic medical centers, large integrated and community health systems, home health and hospice organizations, and the...
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While the demand for registered nurses (RNs) in California’s San Joaquin Valley is projected to grow by more than 35 percent by 2030, the region’s total number of RNs will decline. This will result in a serious shortfall that must be addressed now, according to our new report. This report...
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This study explored care models and policies that enhance the utilization of peer providers in California and to identify and describe best practices in peer support roles and practices for individuals with mental health or substance use disorders in California. This research focused on...
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Federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) were designed to provide care in medically underserved areas and substantial and sustained federal funding has accelerated FQHC growth. This report examines changes over time in primary care provider supply and whether FQHCs have been successful in...
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This report analyzes and projects future needs related to California’s behavioral health workforce. This workforce is critical to meeting California’s health care needs. One in six adults suffers from mental illness and one in fourteen children has a serious emotional disturbance. While access to...
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The goal of this project is to examine the diversity of California's RNS in education, age, race/ethnicity, gender, employment setting, job titles, and regions.
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Highlights Value-based payment is leading to enhanced care coordination staffing. Sites are task shifting low-complexity care coordination to unlicensed staff. Important care coordination education gaps necessitate in-depth on-the-job training. Demonstrating the return on investment of care...
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While it is difficult to know the true number of practicing geriatricians, the supply has been negatively affected by tightening certification requirements, relatively low income and negative return on investment. There appears to be consensus that clinical care by geriatricians should be reserved...
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Demand for health care professionals with expertise in long-term care (LTC) and older populations is rising, due to projected growth in the older population and the increasing burden of chronic disease. One way to meet this growing LTC workforce demand may be to employ more nurse practitioners (NPs...
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The 2016 Survey of California Registered Nurses is the tenth in a series of surveys designed to describe the population of registered nurses (RNs) licensed in California and to examine changes in this population over time. Other studies were completed in 1990, 1993, 1997, and every two years since...
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Although communication is an essential part of the nursing process, nurses have little to no formal education in how to best communicate patient safety event (PSE) information to nursing home (NH) residents and their family members. The current mixed-methods study tested an intervention aimed at...
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This second report in a series of three Healthforce Center reports on primary care in California, unveils projections of a statewide primary care clinician shortfall in the next 15 years, with the most severe shortages in the Central Valley, Central Coast and Southern Border areas. Key Findings...
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Children and adolescents exposed to chronic trauma have a greater risk for mental health disorders and school failure. Children and adolescents of minority racial/ethnic groups and those living in poverty are at greater risk of exposure to trauma and are less likely to have access to mental health...
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The aim of this study is to examine male-female earnings of nurses in Germany. Understanding and addressing differences in earnings by gender is important because differences in pay accumulate over a nurse’s career and can lead to substantial disparities between genders, especially if they...
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This report summarizes the findings from a survey of general acute care hospital employers of registered nurses (RNs) in California conducted in fall 2016. This is the seventh annual survey of hospital RN employers; together these surveys provide an opportunity to evaluate overall demand for RNs in...
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Community health workers (CHWs) and promotores de salud are playing an increasingly important role in the delivery of high quality and equitable health related services, particularly to vulnerable populations. Using a Theory of Change framework, this report connects intervention and support...
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Enrollment in Medi-Cal, California's Medicaid program, surged with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), from 8.6 million in September 2013 to 13.4 million three years later. Medi-Cal now covers nearly one in three Californians. These Medi-Cal enrollees benefit from no- or low-cost...