Posts Tagged ‘Health’

February 5, 2010

President Obama: Focus on Jobs in the Health Workforce

President Obama –and the Congress for that matter–need to focus on JOBS in the HEALTH WORKFORCE.  The Bureau of  Labor Statistics reports that the health sector ranks high among the areas that will provide the greatest number of new jobs over the next decade.  Four million jobs will be created in the health care sector will be a leader in producing new jobs,  including high-skill, high-paying jobs like doctors and nurses.  Among the top ten occupations needed will be:  Registered nurses, home  health aides, personal and home care aides,  and nursing aides, orderlies and attendants. 

With the aging baby boomer population, the need for a greater number of trained people in the health professions goes well beyond nurses and home care workers.  Shortages across the professions will be exacerbated by the retirement of physicians, nurses, pharmacists, dentists and other professionals.  In 2004, 23 percent of licensed pharmacists, for example, indicated they were leaving the profession within the year and 80 percent of pharmacy directors said they would leave within the decade. Substantial retirements of faculty in all schools of the health professions add to the problem.

With the overwhelming need for a health workforce for the nation, President Obama should be focusing his Jobs Initiative on education and innovative training programs for the health workforce.  President Obama should be looking for ways to provide incentives to academic health centers and their health professions schools for new ideas and innovative ways to develop a quality health workforce in a short time frame. 

One way is to receive funding and other incentives to create new career ladders for those people who are already employed within the health system and want to raise their skill levels and receive education in one of the more-skilled professions (and this can include the myriad allied health, imaging, medical records and IT jobs that are critical to the system).

There should also be funding to health professions schools to create innovative, perhaps fast tracked, retraining programs for the thousands of people who are losing their jobs in America’s dying manufacturing industries. 

The Obama Administration needs to look beyond small business and the green industries with regard to JOBS.  The health workforce should be the priority when it comes to jobs.

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July 16, 2009

SOS on Regulatory Reform in Health Reform

I read that countless numbers of people are worried about being regulated by government in any reformed health system.   But no one, especially policymakers, seems to be addressing the regulatory infrastructure and the costs of regulation, which might open up a pandora’s box and really shed light on the extent to which the public is benefiting from the regulations developed to protect the American people (which is an issue for a longer discussion).  No one is asking whether the agencies mandated to regulate, including the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services,  have the resources to address implementation and enforcement of current and new regulations.  Policymakers should be addressing those resources now.  Policymakers would also do well to look at the costs of compliance for the government and for health care providers.   A 2005 study by the Association of Academic Health Centers  found that the costs of compliance  increased up to 300% in the previous decade and often more than 70% a year at academic health centers throughout the nation. We are hearing of even greater increases at the present time.  No one is denying the need for accountability and protecting quality, safety, and privacy in the health care arena.  But it may be time for the government to ask about the costs and benefits of regulation along with addressing the need for rational and ”smart” regulations.  There is also an urgent need for harmonization within the regulatory environment.  Interagency task forces have done little to ensure there is no contradiction and confusion between regulations coming out of the many government agencies.  If we really want to ensure safety and quality for the public as well as savings in health care delivery, reform of the regulatory world must be addressed now. 

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Posted in Health Reform, Policy | No Comments »