Browse Research Publications

  • A microsimulation model was developed to assess insurance enrollment growth in California due to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, increased demand for health services resulting from increased insurance enrollment, and resulting growth in the demand for health care workers. Full...
  • Foreign-educated and foreign-born health workers constitute a sizable and important portion of the US health care workforce. We review the distribution of these workers and their countries of origin, and we summarize the literature concerning their contributions to US health care. We also report on...
  • The health care industry has been an engine of job growth, and the Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) is expected to stimulate further growth. Over the next decade, the health care sector could add 4.6 million jobs, representing a 31% increase from current employment. New job opportunities from...
  • Multiple data sources were analyzed to provide detailed information about the diversity of California’s registered nurse workforce and to develop projections of future diversity.
  • The biennial California Survey of Registered Nurses provides information about the demographics, education, and employment of registered nurses in the state.
  • This article explains the process used to identify and develop a set of data used to track national progress toward the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine Committee for the Future of Nursing. The data are presented in a dashboard format to visually summarize information and quickly...
  • There is an ongoing debate about the reasons for the growth of temporary employment of registered nurses (RNs). Some argue that efficiency incentives to increase flexibility and reduce labor costs are the principal cause, while others point to shortages of RNs as the stronger determinant. Using...
  • This report presents supply and demand forecasts for the Registered Nurse (RN) workforce in California from 2013 through 2030. These new forecasts are based on data from the 2012 California Board of Registered Nursing (BRN) Survey of Registered Nurses, the U.S. Bureau of Health Professions (BHPr)...
  • Sources related to demand for nurses data are more difficult to find, and also more difficult to interpret relative to supply. When people talk about the "demand" for nurses, they can have multiple concepts in mind. Even if the concept is well-defined, the data may not clearly align with the...
  • This article reviews the information gathered by the National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses (NSSRN) and other sources of data on the registered nurse (RN) workforce. It examines how the data have been used to create knowledge about the RN workforce and highlights the relative strengths and...
  • Providing regional projections of the RN workforce will allow underlying differences in the age structure of the RN workforce to become more visible. By providing regional-level projections, it will also be possible to identify those regions whose RN workforce is expected to grow at a slower rate...
  • Although differences in nurse staffing have been associated with individual hospital characteristics in the literature, there have been no studies on how these factors may influence nurse staffing changes made after the mandated nurse-to-patient ratios in acute care hospitals in California. The aim...
  • This report explores entry-level and low-skill job opportunities that will expand due to ACA implementation. The analyses draw from estimates of future health worker demand published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and a unique analysis of the effect of the ACA on job growth developed...
  • Implementation of the Affordable Care Act will stimulate demand for workers in health care services, an industry in which job growth is already strong. Preparing future entry-level employees to join the field, however, calls for establishing sectoral training strategies that align workers’ skills...
  • Objective To determine whether, following implementation of California’s minimum nurse staffing legislation, changes in acuity-adjusted nurse staffing and quality of care in California hospitals outpaced similar changes in hospitals in comparison states without such regulations. Data Sources/Study...
  • The termination of the National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses (NSSRN) represents a loss of a key source of information on the nursing workforce that has been available for more than 30 years. At the same time, this loss presents new opportunities to address some of the biases associated with...
  • This report summarizes the findings of a survey conducted in spring 2012 of Chief Nursing Officers at general acute care hospitals in California, to evaluate the overall demand for RNs in the state. The survey reveals variation in the demand for RNs across California, the lack of positions...
  • All low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) have health worker labour markets. Some of these countries’ markets function better than others and all can be improved. What does it mean when experts say there is a “shortage” of health workers? Is there more than one definition of a shortage and if so...
  • Widely recognized problems with the U.S. health care system, including rapidly increasing costs and disparities in access and outcomes also exist in oral health. If oral health systems are to meet the "Triple Aim" of improving the experience of care, improving the health of populations, and...
  • Objective: To evaluate the effects of different methods of remuneration on the professional behaviour of primary care dentists and associated patient outcomes. Full Publication
  • More than 8% of employed RNs licensed since 2004 in the United States were educated overseas, yet little is known about the conditions of their recruitment or the impact of that experience on health care practice. This study assessed whether the labor rights of foreign-educated nurses were at risk...
  • This report summarizes the findings of a survey conducted in fall 2011 of general acute care hospital employers of registered nurses (RNs) in California. This survey is the second of three annual surveys, with the last survey scheduled for fall 2012. Together, these surveys provide an opportunity...
  • This Brief reviews the main sources of data stakeholders at the national and state level can use to measure education levels among RNs. Each data source is described, with attention to the population of nurses or nursing graduates it represents. Nuances and shortcomings of the data are discussed to...
  • This survey of nurse practitioners and nurse midwives in California provided information about education, employment, demographics, and the practice of these important advanced practice nurses.
  • This survey of clinical nurse specialists in California provided information about education, employment, demographics, and the practice of these important advanced practice nurses.
  • New workforce models in dentistry are being explored as potential solutions to improving the dental care delivery system for underserved populations.  In 1998, California officially recognized a new dental health profession: the Registered Dental Hygienist in Alternative Practice (RDHAP).  RDHAPs...
  • This report presents supply and demand forecasts for the Registered Nurse (RN) workforce in California from 2011 through 2030. These new forecasts are based on data from the 2010 California Board of Registered Nursing (BRN) Survey of Registered Nurses, the US Bureau of Health Professions (BHPr)...
  • This comprehensive report, sponsored by the California Wellness Foundation, explores the current and future capacity of California’s health care workforce to meet the expected increase in demand resulting from expanded insurance coverage under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA)....
  • As reported earlier, nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) play a critical role in the delivery of primary care in California, providing the majority of primary care services in over 20% of the state’s community clinics. This follow-up, qualitative research explores how and why...
  • Efforts to expand access to nursing care and remedy the global nursing shortages are hampered when nurses are unemployed or underemployed. This monograph seeks to fill the gap in understanding on this issue, including nurses who are currently inactive but who might return to nursing work given...

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