- Over 1.5 million new jobs need to be filled by 2026 for medical assistants, nursing aides, and home care aides, many of which will work in the long-term services and supports (LTSS) sector. Using 16 years of data from the American Time Use Survey, we examined the financial vulnerability of high-…
- This document is a guide for primary care organizations and care teams working to integrate substance use disorder (SUD) treatment services. It provides proven strategies, best practices, and tools used by organizations within California to expand the capability of primary care teams in…
- Physician assistants (PAs) — state-licensed health professionals who practice medicine in collaboration with physicians and other providers — provide high-quality care, and are more likely to work in rural areas and with underserved populations than are physicians. Their training enables them to…
- In spite of the United States’ racial and ethnic diversity, the health care workforce remains predominately white, particularly in professions that require doctoral degrees. This has a real and negative impact on both patients and health professionals. Diversity in the classroom can translate into…
- 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…
- 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…
- This publication, which is part of a special issue for the journal Health Services Research on the evolving US health care workforce, describes innovative roles for medical assistants (MAs) in the rapidly changing health care environment. Medical assistants are one of the fastest growing…
- This study, which was published in Health Affairs, was the first major data analysis of hospital palliative care programs’ workforce. The growing field of palliative care, which affects nearly all Americans, focuses on improving quality of life for patients with serious illnesses – including…
- Personal care assistants (PCAs) provide supports and services that enable older adults and individuals with disabilities to remain in their homes and community settings. State Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services programs facilitate use of alternatives to institutional care by paying for…
- Medical assistants (MAs) are one of the fastest-growing occupations in the United States. As of 2014 there were about 585,000 MAs in the United States, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics projected the MA workforce to grow by 29% from 2012 to 2022. The MA population is primarily female, ethnically…
- Asian Health Services (AHS) is an urban federally-qualified health center in Oakland, California. It has developed new roles for medical assistants and other frontline staff to capitalize on their language capacity and other skills to provide health coaching and health navigation services to an…
- This summary covers current (as of Sept 2013) scope of practice for medical assistants (MAs) in the state of California. In California, MAs are unlicensed personnel who work in physician (MD), podiatrist (DPM), or optometrist (OD) offices; and clinics. MAs may not work for inpatient care in…
- School-based health centers (SBHCs) are an important component of health care reform. The SBHC model of care offers accessible, continuous, comprehensive, family-centered, coordinated, and compassionate care to infants, children, and adolescents. These same elements comprise the patient-centered…
- Southcentral Foundation (SCF) assumed management of a primary care system with low patient satisfaction and high staff turnover. This led SCF to create extensive employee development programs and to support a human resources policy in which frontline staff, including medical assistants, can work…
- In the course of rapid expansion, WellMed Medical Group found itself hiring increasing numbers of medical assistants (MAs). However, quality and turnover issues with the existing pool of externally-trained MAs inspired the organization to develop its own medical assistant training school. The…
- The Central Massachusetts Community Health Center Partnership (CMCHCP) is a collaborative effort of employers and training centers intended to address the workforce needs of Worcester area community health centers. The Partnership’s first project focuses on training incumbent and new medical…
- Concern about medication errors inspired Franklin Square Hospital Center to develop a medication safety training program for medical assistants. This initiative empowered medical assistants to think independently, and inspired administrators to offer more standardized training and advancement…
- DFD Russell Medical Centers in rural central Maine involve medical assistants in quality improvement efforts through a) engaging them in small scale testing and refinement of practice improvements (PDSAs), b) providing them with periodic reports on quality measures directly related to their…
- Northwestern Memorial Physicians Group (NMPG) took the unusual step of developing a clinical career ladder for its medical assistants (MAs) in 2003, and, more recently, for its patient services representatives (PSRs). Medical assistants are the largest group of non-licensed employees at NMPG.…
- PeaceHealth Medical Group received a grant to pilot a patient-centered medical home in one of its practices in Eugene, Oregon. “Team Fillingame” revised staff roles and added a part-time mental health worker to address patients’ social, behavioral and medical needs. Using a patient activation…
- The University of Utah Community Clinics’ success in achieving a remarkable financial turnaround empowered the organization to innovate further in order to improve the patient experience. The organization implemented a team-based model of care that increased the ratio of medical assistants (MAs)…
- In response to long wait times and low patient satisfaction scores, the University of California, Davis Medical Center Department of Family and Community Practice redesigned its residency-based Family Practice Center into a Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH). This model expanded the role of…
- The Atlantic City HEREIU Local 54 Health and Welfare Fund and AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center partnered to develop the “Special Care Center” (SCC), a new clinic that provides coordinated care management to patients with multiple chronic illnesses. The new center recruited and trained a group of…
- Kaiser Permanente Southern California has developed an innovative tool, the Proactive Office Encounter (POE), embedded in its cutting-edge electronic health record system, HealthConnect. The POE interface prompts medical assistants and licensed vocational nurses to remind patients at the time of…
- High Plains Community Health Center, a federally qualified health center in Colorado, redesigned its workflow to increase productivity by increasing the number of support staff per provider. Medical Assistants (MAs) are cross-trained to rotate through front and back office roles in a team-based…
- Cabin Creek Health Systems, a federally-qualified health clinic in West Virginia, trained a team of experienced Medical Assistants to provide risk assessments and care coordination to elderly patients, and to conduct home visits to frail elderly patients in remote rural areas. The organization…
- In 2005, the UNITE HERE (Union) Health Center in New York City embarked on a new initiative that expanded the role of medical assistants (MAs) to provide team-based care and health coaching for patients with chronic diseases. This initiative includes the creation of a career ladder for medical…
- There has been growing interest in expansion of the role of medical assistants (MAs) in community clinics, where their utilization has increased in recent years. Ten clinics identified as using MAs in an expanded capacity were studied for this brief. Innovative roles typically involved the…
- The purpose of this project was to understand the role of medical assistants in solo and small primary care physician practices. The study team described the background, training, and certification of medical assistants, assessed the gaps in their training, and discussed the impact these gaps may…
- This issue brief describes utilization of Registered Nurses (RN), Licensed Vocational Nurses (LVN), and medical assistants (MA) over the period 2005-2008. We found that the proportion of clinic sites reporting utilization of RNs and LVNs generally did not change during this period, while use of…