Yesterday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Cal.) unveiled proposed health reform legislation from the House. Put together from the work of three House Committees the bill includes a public option.
Also significant, the legislation also now includes language identical to the recommendation made by the Association of Academic Health Centers (AAHC) that a permanent health workforce advisory committee develop and implement “an integrated, coordinated, strategic national health workforce policy.” The AAHC has advocated for a national workforce planning entity because it believes that the nation’s workforce policy must be changed; the nation’s customary piecemeal approach to the workforce is no longer viable or appropriate for the 21st century.
A comparable Senate bill is still being negotiated. The Senate should not only include such language in any final bill but also move to ensure the creation of a permanent planning entity that operates continuously, makes ongoing findings and recommendations, and is available at any time to provide consultative support to federal, state, and private health workforce stakeholders. The planning entity must serve as an active policymaking partner, not a passive advisor.
The AAHC has been urging the congressional committees and congressional leadership to broaden the scope of activity of the proposed advisory committee/national commission to fully support a strategic national policy approach.
Specifically, the AAHC recommends the following modifications be incorporated into any health reform legislation considered by the full House and Senate:
- Make development and implementation of an integrated, coordinated, strategic national health workforce policy the primary objective of any advisory committee or national commission.
- Constitute the advisory committee or national commission as a continuously available policy research and consultative resource, not simply as a body of external experts that convenes from time to time to make periodic recommendations.
- Amend the enumerated issues to be addressed by the advisory committee or national commission to include the harmonization of conflicting national and state-based regulatory and private self-regulatory standards (e.g., licensure, scope of practice, accreditation).
4. As an interim step, create a national health workforce coordinator to assess current federal capabilities and prepare agencies for their interactions with the advisory committee or national commission once it is fully functional.
This is the way to ensure that the nation has the health workforce it needs for the short and long-term.
