The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #47206

Marilyn Biviano, PhD, Bureau of Health Professions, Health Resources & Services Administration, 5600 Fishers Lane, Parklawn Bldg, Room 8-47, Rockville, MD 20857, 301-443-9297, MBiviano@hrsa.gov

Background: Inadequate access to health care is a crisis for an estimated 1 in 6 Americans -- a problem that can only be solved with an adequate supply of well-trained health professionals equitably distributed throughout the States. To increase access to quality health care, a major focus of the Healthy People 2010 infrastructure and access objectives is to train and diversify the health workforce. Increasing under-represented minorities in the health professions is necessary to increase access to and quality of care for racial and ethnic minorities. The desire to assuring an adequate and competent health workforce also led to the Public Health Workforce Enumeration project.

Presentation: This session will draw from two national resources, funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration, Bureau of Health Professions, that health organizations, academic institutions, communities, and government agencies can use to achieve national objectives to increase under-represented minorities in the health professions and plan for an adequate supply of public health workers. The Healthy People 2010 Workforce Development Companion Document and the Public Health Workforce Enumeration publication enable States to better analyze and plan for their health workforce needs and ensure easy and ready access to health care. The session will showcase successful academic-practice workforce development efforts and provide a current best estimate of the size and composition of the public health workforce at the local, state and national levels. The session will focus on the specific role that academic-practice partnerships can play in advancing the workforce development objectives in the Nation’s prevention agenda.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify strategies and enumeration efforts that health organizations, academic institutions, communities, and government can adopt to achieve a diverse and evenly distributed health care workforce that assures 100 percent access and 0 health disparities for people who today are medically underserved.
• Identify exemplary programs that have proven effective in increasing the number of underrepresented minorities in the health professions.
• Discuss the role academic-practice partnerships play in workforce development.

Keywords: Workforce, Access to Health Care

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: employment