February 23, 2012
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Community Forums

Growing North Carolina’s Healthcare Workforce

Despite the most recent economic downturn, the healthcare industry was one of only a handful of industries to create jobs. According to the North Carolina Health Professions Data System, while there was only a three percent growth in all North Carolina jobs between 1999-2009, healthcare jobs grew 46 percent. Such jobs are less vulnerable to outsourcing and economic recession, and growth in this sector is likely to continue, driven by demographic changes, population growth and insurance expansion.

It is critical for North Carolina and its local communities to develop and implement innovative workforce and economic development strategies to meet the workforce needs of this important sector. Through it’s Community Health Forum series, IEI initiated an effort to get communities across the state thinking about strategies to bolster the healthcare workforce. While these Forums took a broad view of healthcare occupations, a good deal of discussion centered around the allied health professions, such as physical therapists and assistants, occupational therapists and assistants, medical coders and lab technicians. Click here to see a complete list of strategies identified at the Community Forums.

Watch Eric Evans describe his Community Forum experience.

Learn More About the Community Health Forum Series
Held in the Western, Southern, Eastern and greater Charlotte regions, the Forums drew nearly 150 participants, including educators, workforce and economic developers and policy makers. State and local workforce professionals described the latest health workforce statistics and challenges of the sector, including lack of knowledge about healthcare career opportunities, access to quality faculty, and bottlenecks in the pipeline resulting from regulations and lack of available clinical placement sites.

To address these challenges, participants and panelists identified 83 local, state and national strategies centered around seven themes: preparation, professional development, wellness and prevention, recruitment and retention of faculty and healthcare professionals, regulations and clinical placement sites, marketing, and funding. Two-thirds of the strategies identified call for action at the state or national levels.

In September IEI’s Working Group will be charged with identifying an action plan for moving some of these statewide strategies forward.

Resources

Allied Health Job Vacancy Tracking Report
North Carolina Institute of Medicine (NCIOM): Health Professional Workforce Workgroup
The State of Allied Health in North Carolina
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