Areas of Focus

A goal of the National Center for Health Workforce Analysis is to become the leading source of comprehensive health workforce data to inform public policies and private sector investments in the workforce arena.

The National Center focuses on multiple priorities to achieve this aim, including:

Expanding and Improving Health Workforce Data
Health Workforce Data Compilation and Dissemination
Improved Health Workforce Projections
Collaboration with States
International Health Workforce
Health Workforce Research and Collaboration

Expanding and Improving Health Workforce Data

The National Center supports and encourages the collection and analysis of health workforce data by states, health professions organizations and other groups in both the private and public sectors. Several activities are currently underway that are contributing to the development of a national infrastructure for the collection of quality data, including:

Partnering with national associations and professional organizations to develop and build a core minimum data set for the health professions. Physicians, nurses, physician assistants, dentists, dental hygienists, pharmacists, physical therapists, and behavioral health professionals are represented.
Purchasing health workforce data to support health workforce analysis.
Collaborating with federal agencies to improve and coordinate federal health workforce data collection and analysis
Fielding a sample survey of nurse practitioners to learn more about the supply, distribution, and roles of the profession.

Health Workforce Data Compilation and Dissemination

A critical responsibility of the National Center is to ensure that workforce data is widely disseminated and easily accessible to all stakeholders. The National Center is developing and refining products that will provide policy makers, the health education and training community, health providers, and the public necessary health workforce information, including:

The Area Health Resource File (AHRF), which contains more than 6,000 variables for the nation’s counties, including information on health care professions, health professions training, health facilities, and hospital utilization and spending, as well as population, economic, and environmental data.
A report detailing the diversity of the largest health professions both in practice and in the educational pipeline.
A report describing the supply, distribution and pipeline of various health professions, including a state-level database of health occupation information.
The Health Workforce Information Center (HWIC) , which provides free access to the most recent resources on the nation’s health workforce in one easy-to-use online location.
An enumeration of the public health workforce, in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Improved Health Workforce Projections

Developing and improving supply and demand projections for the health workforce is a top priority for the National Center. Projection models are currently being developed for the nursing workforce, physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners. As the National Center continues to grow, model development and maintenance will be expanded to include additional health professions.

Collaboration with States

States play a critical role in assessing health workforce needs and in supporting the education and training of health professionals. The National Center is actively working with states to increase collaboration on health workforce data and information.

The National Center assists many HRSA programs that work with states, including area health education centers, shortage designations and Primary Care Offices, and state Offices of Rural Health.

International Health Workforce

The National Center assists the HHS Office of Global Health Affairs on international health workforce issues. The Center has been designated a co-National Authority for implementation of the World Health Organization (WHO) Code of Practice.

Health Workforce Research and Collaboration

Health workforce research touches all National Center priorities. Additional research and analysis is needed to ensure the supply and distribution of well-trained health professionals and the delivery of high quality health care for the nation. The National Center is working with public and private partners to determine key workforce issues, including further exploration of the primary care workforce, health workforce retirement trends, and the education pipeline for future health professionals.