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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Established in 2007, the Clinic Leadership Institute (CLI) prepared health leaders of California community clinics and health centers to be effective and passionate agents of change. With participants ranging from administrative staff to new chief executive officers, CLI included two programs:...
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Access to oral health care has become a growing concern over the past decade. Despite efforts to improve the oral health of the nation's population, oral health disparities persist. These disparities are characterized by compromised oral health status, particularly among certain vulnerable...
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UCSF School of Nursing researchers received a two-year grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to assess the utilization of Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioners (PMHNPs) in public mental health settings in California. The UCSF research team, in partnership with the California...
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Information technology has become a priority in health systems around the country and will be an important resource in any national healthcare overhaul. Healthforce staff have completed evaluations of electronic medical systems in the Veterans Health Administration, the largest health system in the...
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Healthforce Center has prepared a series of brief reports on California’s health care workforce in seven health professions for the University of California Office of the President. Optometry Workforce and Education in California Oral Health Workforce and Education in California...
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Established in 2005, the California Improvement Network (CIN) is a learning and action community that advances equitable health care experiences and outcomes for Californians through cross-sector connections, spreading good ideas, and implementing improvements. Advancing health equity...
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Recent increases in enrollment in Medi-Cal (California’s Medicaid program) due to the Affordable Care Act have heightened concerns about whether sufficient numbers of physicians are participating in Medi-Cal to provide beneficiaries with adequate access to care. Medi-Cal beneficiaries may have...
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The Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010 expanded access to health insurance for millions of Americans. One likely effect of greater health insurance coverage is more demand for health care services, which will lead to a growing need for health care workers. In collaboration with colleagues at...
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This four-year project is evaluating the effect of increasing access to professional interpreters for older hospitalized patients with limited English proficiency. The study is looking at impact on health care utilization, patient and caregiver satisfaction and knowledge, and clinicians’ use of...
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Oral health is a significant concern among vulnerable populations that are plagued by coverage, quality, and payment challenges, as well as by other health issues. Racial, ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in access to preventive dental care and treatment remain a public health challenge. Two of...
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Electronic health records (EHRs) are an important tool for managing information about patients and improving outcomes and processes of care. In 2009, President Obama signed the federal Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. The act provided $27 billion for...
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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 US Bureau of the Health Professions. The mission is to help answer the essential question: Is our health care workforce...
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Payment for medical care in the United States is undergoing a seismic shift, from payment based on the volume of care provided to payment based on value. The emerging payment models change incentives and spread risk between health plans and providers. The intent is to create a delivery system that...
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Designing a health care system that better meets societal needs provides a tremendous opportunity for meaningful change. Inspiring and developing physician leaders are key strategies to catalyze these efforts during dynamic times. The UCSF Institute for Physician Leadership (IPL) program provided a...
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In 2010, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Committee on the Future of Nursing released a report called The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation subsequently established the Campaign for Action as a national initiative to guide implementation of the...
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Applications now open for next cohort The application for Managing to Leading cohort 8 is now open! Please read program details below and apply online by Friday, March 14, 2025. Contact Brianna Fennell with any questions about the application or program. Program overview The Cedars...
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Nursing care is a core element of patient safety and quality within hospitals, but measures for the quality of nursing care during birth have not been established. This study, led by Audrey Lyndon at New York University, breaks new ground in determining relationships between nursing care during...
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During the past two decades, there has been a resurgence in union activity in the health care industry in the United States, particularly in hospitals. As health care unions become more influential in hospital operations and in national policymaking, it is important we understand how they are...
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The UCSF Clinical Leadership Accelerator (UCSF-CLA) program provided an opportunity for faculty to gain insights and skills to lead change and improve health care. The program was free of cost to participants thanks to funding through the Chancellor's Strategic Initiative, and it was administered...
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The California Health Care Foundation (CHCF) Alumni Network are graduates of the CHCF Health Care Leadership Program. They seek to improve health and health care delivery in California by: Facilitating learning Collaborating across health care sectors Performing collective actions...