By Melissa Wirkus, associate editor
At a time when the shortage of healthcare professionals is reaching epic proportions comes the Health Workforce Information Center (HWIC)—a comprehensive online resource center providing up-to-date news, data and research on the nation’s health workforce.
Funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and operated by the University of North Dakota (UND) School of Medicine and Health Sciences, HWIC was designed to provide free information to help healthcare organizations and providers, hospitals, policy makers and schools to develop strategies and initiatives to combat the shortage of healthcare professionals.
"We are very confident that the HWIC will quickly become one of the most sought after national authorities on information about our health workforce. HWIC can provide valuable information to health leaders across the country, ultimately increasing staffing, educational programs, and retention of health workers," said Dr. Elizabeth Duke, HRSA administrator. "Our intention establishing the HWIC is to create a tool capable of quickly and accurately providing information needed to make the tough decisions we need to allocate resources."
The HWIC acts as repository for a wide array of information on the health workforce—from the latest news articles to information on funding, programs and events.
The user-friendly data is accessible from anywhere and online information specialists are available to assist users with inquiries or with finding information on a particular subject, health profession or other related topic.
The launch of this portal comes at a time when information about the health workforce is in high demand. Addressing both the current and projected shortage of health care professionals continues to be an important topic.
"As the president is pursuing broad ranging healthcare reform, a vital element in the success of expanding healthcare is to make sure we have enough healthcare professionals and that they are in the right locations across the country," Duke said.
"Hospitals and medical schools need reliable facts and figures on the health workforce in order to make hiring and training decisions. Policy makers need the same information as they make strategies for reforming the healthcare system. The vital question is will we have enough physicians and nurses and dentists and pharmacists and many of the other health professions upon on whom we rest in order to have a quality healthcare system."
James Bentley, senior vice president for strategic policy planning at the American Hospital Association said that the health workforce crises is due in part to a number of factors including the wave of baby boomers facing retirement and the difficult schedules that most healthcare professionals must adhere to.
"Now there are a lot of opinions as to what we should do about the shortages and difficulties we have in the healthcare workforce. But as Senator Moynihan said, ‘Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.’ Whether someone prefers market-based solutions or work force planning we need to have one set of accessible, shared facts that we can all work from," Bentley said. "The AHA welcomes the grant that HRSA has made to University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences to assemble a broad data center on the healthcare workforce."
Visitors to the site can also request e-mail updates that will deliver the most recent news straight to their inbox, and subscribe to the HWIC newsletter.
"The Workforce Center has an opportunity now to provide all of us with a comprehensive one-stop place for accurate information," Bentley concluded.
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