Printer-friendly
Border County Health Workforce Profiles:
Arizona
A unique characteristic of the United
States (U.S.)-Mexico Border region was
the magnitude and diversity of the human
capital residing within its boundaries.
On the U.S. side, the four Border States
were home to 65 million people in 2003,
over one-fifth (22.4 percent) of the
population of the country. About 6.9
million of them lived in the area extending
62 miles inland from Mexico. The Mexican
side had a similar high concentration
of people, with the larger Border cities
hosting most of the population. In
addition to the size of the population,
the massive movement of people and goods
between Mexico and the United States,
combined with high rates of poverty
and lack of health insurance, may facilitate
the transmission of communicable diseases
even beyond the Border.
This report, entitled Border County
Health Workforce Profiles: Arizona,
has companion reports for the States
of California, New Mexico, Texas, and
Florida.[1]
This set of reports, which will be
referred to as the “Profiles” throughout
this report, represents a ground-breaking
effort to assemble and disseminate consistent
and current information on the health
workforce, relevant population characteristics,
and basic health indicators for the
U.S. Border region. The Profiles were
based on county-level data and reported
by geographic proximity to the Border.
The great variability of health and workforce
indicators between the Border States and
between smaller regions within each State
has traditionally been hidden in the aggregate
totals and averages that have been used
to describe the Border. Recognizing and
understanding these differences is critically
important to planners, policy makers,
and program administrators who design
and target health care interventions.
While the database created for the "Profiles"
was a great improvement over existing
aggregate, fragmented and rarely comparable
information, some limitations remain.
Mostly, the limitations were the result
of using the politically defined county
boundaries as a unit of measurement rather
than the service areas within which health
care was actually delivered. Also, the
county averages may hide important differences
within a county. For example, there may
be concentrations of health professionals
in an urban area that overshadow the lack
of health professionals and extreme needs
of a large rural area, producing a better-than
average provider-to-population ratio for
the county as a whole. Given these caveats,
the data displayed in these reports provide
a solid base for future research on workforce
trends and utilization in the Border.
The contract for this study, HRSA-230-03-0017,
was awarded to the Regional Center for
Health Workforce Studies at The University
of Texas Health Science Center at San
Antonio by the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services, Health Resources and
Services Administration, Bureau of Health
Professions (BHPr). The Evaluation and
Analysis Branch, Office of Workforce Analysis
and Quality Assurance, BHPr, HRSA was
responsible for overseeing the study.
The Border County Health Workforce
Profiles present county-level data obtained
from State health agencies and health
professions licensing boards to develop
social/health indicators and practitioner-to-population
ratios, respectively. These indicators
help describe health status and health
disparities in the U.S. regions that
lie next to Mexico as well as provide
information on the number of practitioners
available to address the health needs
of the areas. Comparable indicators
and ratios were shown in this Report
for the State as a whole, the four Border
States, and the Nation. The Profiles
show that the Border was far from being
a homogeneous region. The U.S. counties
from San Diego, California, to Brownsville,
Texas, while sharing some common cultural
traits, exhibit significant diversity
in the proportion of the population
that was Hispanic/Latino(a), in socioeconomic
indicators, in health status measures
and in the supply of health professionals.
Border regions were defined by different
entities using criteria of proximity
to the Border. One definition identifies
only those counties adjacent to the
U.S.-Mexico Border as "Border Counties."
The U.S.-Mexico Border Health Commission
(USMBHC) expands that definition to
include all counties within 62 miles
of the Border excluding La Paz, Maricopa,
and Pinal Counties in Arizona and Riverside
County in California. The Texas Comptroller
of Public Accounts broadens the criteria
by adding counties considered as directly
affected by the economic impact of Border
commerce thus extending the area to
approximately 100 miles from the Border
in Texas. Other definitions include
larger areas. In Arizona, totals for
the following geographic areas are included:
within 62 miles of the Border and more
than 62 miles from the Border. To satisfy
as many users as possible, the Profiles
show totals for the following geographic
areas for California, New Mexico, and
Texas: within 62 miles of the Border,
62-300 miles from the Border, and more
than 300 miles from the Border. In
the Texas report, totals for counties
within 100 miles of the Border were
also included. Counties within 62 miles
of the Border are also referred to as
“Border Counties” throughout
these reports using the USMBHC definition.
The Profiles were organized into three
sections:
- A summary of State highlights for
health status and the health workforce.
- Three categories of tables: Population
and health status, health professions,
and health infrastructure. Health
professions tables include physicians,
dentists, and registered nurses, non-physician
clinician providers and mental health
providers.
- A set of appendices that list counties
included in the analysis by geographic
area and a review of data sources.
These data may serve as a benchmark
for updates and for complementary data
from Mexico. It is through additional
tracking of data and summary of results
for future years, and comparison of
previous findings, that planners, policy
makers, and program administrators will
be able to measure the impact that programs
may have on the reduction of health
disparities for individuals living in
the four Border States and Florida and
particularly for those citizens living
in closer proximity to the U.S.-Mexico
Border.
|