HHS supports strategies to bolster the health workforce to ensure delivery of quality services and care. HHS is committed to facilitating coordinated efforts to address long-sanding barriers to strengthening the health workforce. HHS efforts focus on developing professional development opportunities to learn and use new skills to improve the delivery of quality services and care. HHS is also strengthening the integration of culturally- and linguistically-competent and effective care into the services delivered by the health workforce. Below is a selection of strategies HHS is implementing.
In the context of HHS, this Strategic Plan adopts the definition of underserved populations listed in Executive Order 13985: Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities through the Federal Government to refer to "populations sharing a particular characteristic, as well as geographic communities, who have been systematically denied a full opportunity to participate in aspects of economic, social, and civic life"; this definition includes individuals who belong to underserved communities that have been denied such treatment, such as Black, Latino, and Indigenous and Native American persons, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and other persons of color; members of religious minorities; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) persons; persons with disabilities; persons who live in rural areas; and persons otherwise adversely affected by persistent poverty or inequality. Individuals may belong to more than one underserved community and face intersecting barriers.
Contributing OpDivs and StaffDivs
AHRQ, ASPE, CDC, CMS, FDA, HRSA, IHS, OASH, OGA, and SAMHSA work to achieve this objective.
Strategies
Facilitate coordinated efforts to address long-standing barriers to strengthening the health workforce
- Fully implement the HHS Health Workforce Strategic Plan to expand supply, ensure equitable distribution, improve quality, and enhance the use of data and evidence to improve program outcomes while strengthening and diversifying the health workforce.
This plan, which is inclusive of workforce occupations defined within the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics Standard Occupational Classification system, defines the health workforce as follows: the occupations include all healthcare providers with direct patient care and support responsibilities, such as: physicians (including primary care physicians, preventive medicine physicians, and specialty physicians), nurses, nurse practitioners, optometrists, physician assistants, pharmacists, dentists, dental hygienists, and other oral health care professionals, allied health professionals, doctors of chiropractic, community health workers, health care paraprofessionals, direct support professionals, psychologists and other behavioral and mental health professionals (including substance abuse prevention and treatment providers), social workers, physical and occupational therapists, certified nurse midwives, podiatrists, the EMS workforce (including professional and volunteer ambulance personnel and firefighters who perform emergency medical services), licensed complementary and alternative medicine providers, integrative health practitioners, public health professionals, and any other health professional that the Comptroller General of the U.S. determines appropriate
Develop and promote opportunities to learn and use new skills to improve the delivery of quality services and care
- Engage multilaterally and bilaterally, including through policy leadership and technical expertise, to advance global efforts to protect and invest in the health workforce.
- Partner with states to develop an access strategy to ensure ample high-quality providers to serve Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) beneficiaries.
- Strengthen the capacity of community health workers (CHWs) to promote access to services, improve the quality and cultural competence of service delivery, and improve health outcomes by establishing partnerships with other federal departments to encourage use of CHWs in community response.
- Provide support and training at the local level for increased use and availability of community emergency medical services workforce to reduce the use of 911 for routine care, reduce the strain on emergency rooms, and mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and other infections.
- Develop and share approaches for providers to deliver telehealth services across state lines, within federal and state parameters.
- Develop and disseminate resources and support convenings to help the health workforce increase its understanding of and access to evidence-informed best practices that improve quality of care and outcomes.
- Support national accreditation and standards for state and local health departments.
- Support academic degree programs and research training opportunities in occupational health nursing, occupational medicine, and related areas to provide qualified personnel to work in industry, labor, academia, and government to improve occupational health and safety for the U.S. workforce.
Strengthen the integration of culturally- and linguistically-competent and effective care into the services delivered by the health workforce
- Partner with states, Federal Qualified Health Centers, clinics, schools, other community based organizations and the private sector to ensure the health workforce is appropriately and adequately trained with culturally-competent, evidence-based strategies and education modules for addressing systemic bias and racism, ableism, and transphobia to reduce health disparities in the communities they serve.
- Coordinate with grant recipients and other funded partners to support training, technical assistance, and use of the National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) in Health and Health Care and Cultural Humility as foundations for effective and equitable provision of healthcare.
- Promote equity and inclusion, including as it relates to race, ethnicity, and gender, in global commitments, resolutions, and strategies affecting the global health workforce.
