CTuE2 - Applying State Workforce Policies to Invest in Your Health Center Workforce: Stories of What Works and How to Do It

Session Description: Health workforce policy will continue to be a focus in state legislative sessions ahead, with states continuing to grapple with health workforce shortages. With Federal funding uncertainty, state investments will be crucial. Health centers report growing workforce challenges with over 70% experiencing shortages of primary care physicians, 70% nurses, and 69% enabling services providers. There are almost 99.6 million people living in primary medical health professional shortage areas, and 17,065 more practitioners are needed to remove the existing shortage designations. There are many factors contributing to the health center workforce shortages, including barriers to education, lack of rotation opportunities, medical school debt, and more. To address the shortage, in 2024, State legislatures enacted more than 3,000 health policy bills; at least 567 bills were related to health workforce.

This session will provide attendees with an understanding of effective health care workforce programs and give them the tools to work with state lawmakers and partners to develop and bring forward high-quality legislation. Presenters will share results from a national survey of PCA workforce leads on health center workforce needs and spotlight PCA and health center efforts that successfully leveraged resources to elevate workforce programs across various disciplines. Specifically, they will share:

1) An overview of state workforce funding streams
2) Stories from the field on workforce policies and program initiatives
3) Partnership success with stakeholders
4) Strategies to effectively advocate for states to understand their role as a partner and to increase state investments in state run health care workforce initiatives.