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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Physicians, especially in primary care, likely faced substantial revenue loss during the COVID-19 pandemic due to decreases in patient volume and deferred healthcare utilization. While studies have focused on projections and limited surveys, the impact of the pandemic on physician revenue is...
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Highlights: The U.S. cesarean birth rate was 32.4% in 2023 and continues to increase each year. Avoiding morbidity and mortality risk associated with cesarean birth is critical. RN staffing during labor and birth is linked to cesarean rates. RN staffing aligned with national standards...
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Background. American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN), Black (B), and Hispanic/Latino (H/L) people are underrepresented in dentistry, yet disproportionately constitute the safety-net dental workforce. We examined the relationship between serving as safety-net providers (SNPs) and self-reported income...
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More than 83 million people in the United States live in primary care shortage areas. As the US healthcare system faces a contracting primary care physician workforce, advanced practice providers are playing an increasingly important role in the delivery of primary care services. In parallel,...
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As the largest occupational group in the United States (combined with home health aides), personal care aides (PCAs) provide care for millions of Americans. Despite the size of the workforce, PCAs still struggle with unaddressed job quality challenges – inadequate training being primary among them...
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Access to dental care for millions of Californians is tied to coverage by California’s Medicaid (Medi-Cal) Dental insurance program. While child dental coverage is federally mandated, adult dental coverage is optional. In 2009, adult dental coverage was mostly eliminated but was partially...
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The Community Health Representative (CHR) Program, initiated by the Indian Health Service (IHS) in 1968, serves as a pivotal component of health care delivery in American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) communities. Distinct from non-tribal Community Health Workers (CHWs), CHRs are tribally based...
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Improving care coordination for people living with dementia (PLWD) requires understanding of the types of clinicians delivering care and the settings in which they practice. We identified all beneficiaries with dementia in traditional Medicare in 2019. We used the Medicare Carrier file — i....
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Medicaid Home and community-based services (HCBS) and home-based clinical care (i.e., Medicare home health care) aim to support independence and well-being in the community, especially for older adults living with disability and complex health conditions, such as dementia. Many older adults receive...
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Advancing health equity requires acknowledging and attending to inequities within the health policy and services research (HSPR) workforce. Although HSPR racial and ethnic diversity has been increasing, the profession still has considerable unfinished work: in 2021, Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous...
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Nurse practitioners (NPs) are important providers of primary care to underserved populations, particularly in areas with lower physician supply. In 2023, California implemented new regulations aimed at improving access to care, especially primary care services, by providing a pathway for NPs to...
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Clinician burnout remains prevalent, exacerbated by factors such as inadequate staffing, a lack of organizational support, devaluation, and poor interpersonal relations. Amidst provider shortages, the nurse practitioner (NP) workforce is expanding, paralleling high rates of burnout. This study,...
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Communication barriers are known to adversely affect patient safety. Yet few health systems assess and track physician non-English language proficiency for use in clinical settings. Barriers to current assessments (usually simulated clinician oral proficiency interviews) include time constraints...
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Cancer registrars are vital to cancer surveillance -- the work includes collecting, coding, reporting, and curating national cancer data that are used to create national statistical data about cancer epidemiology and treatment. However, cancer registrars are often considered a nonrevenue-...
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Midwives are licensed clinicians who play a key role in the maternity care workforce. In California, licensed midwives (LMs) and nurse-midwives (NMs) provide comprehensive, person-centered care focused on pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period. To better understand the midwife...
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Important health workforce research that we undertake here is part of a national effort to monitor and plan for the health care needs of US residents. The UCSF Health Workforce Research Center on Long-Term Care (UCSF HWRC), housed at Healthforce Center, is a dynamic hub of policy-oriented research...
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Nurse practitioners — often referred to as NPs — are the largest group of nonphysician primary care providers and play a growing role in filling gaps in health care provision in both primary care and behavioral health across California. NPs are registered nurses who have completed additional...
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Objectives: Direct care workers (DCWs) play a central role in supporting individuals' health and well-being across care settings, yet may face barriers to accessing health care themselves, particularly because of high rates of uninsurance. Design: An observational study using pooled National...
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The supply of personal care aides (PCAs), who assist people receiving home care, is a growing concern. PCA shortages result, in part, from the low wages earned by these workers. State policies have had some effect on wages. Self-direction (SD) may be associated with wages because SD allows home...
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Burnout is attributed to negative work environments and threatens patient and clinician safety. Psychological safety is the perception that the work environment is safe for interpersonal risk-taking and may offer insight into the relationship between the work environment and burnout. In this...