Health Workforce Development Council

To help alleviate workforce shortages in California’s health sector, the California Workforce Investment Board (the State Board)established the Health Workforce Development Council (HWDC) in August 2010.  The HWDC will be a broad partnership consisting of industry representatives, education, economic development, elected officials, the public workforce system, philanthropic organizations, community-based organizations, health professional and advocacy organizations and organized labor.   Its mission is to help expand California’s health workforce in order to provide access to quality healthcare for all Californians.  This includes the objective of expanding California’s full-time primary care workforce by 10 to 25 percent over 10 years.

The HWDC is tasked with understanding the current and future health workforce needs of California and with developing a comprehensive strategy to meet those needs.  Health workforce development issues will be addressed by the HWDC through strategic actions at the state, regional, and local levels by understanding, assessing and acting on the training and education, skill development, and capacity and expansion needs of the Health Sector.  The HWDC functions as a special committee of the State Board and staff support for the Council will be provided by the State Board and the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD).  HWDC meetings, the first of which is anticipated to occur in early to mid-October in Sacramento, will be open to the public along with agendas, presentations, and other materials presented.

• HWDC Member Roster 
• Meeting Materials and Presentations 
• Other Significant Events 

Report on Health Workforce Development Needs

The following documents are being offered for public review and comment.  Public comment will be accepted during the period of Wednesday, January 22 through Wednesday January 29.  Please submit any comments to: Discuss.Issues@cwib.ca.gov.

Report on Health Workforce Development Needs: Findings and Recommendations

The work of the Health Workforce Development Council (HWDC) and its sub-committees has been distilled into a concise report.  The report is intended to serve numerous purposes – documentation/validation of the HWDC’s work to date, an informational/marketing piece for policy makers and stakeholders and a vision piece for its ongoing work. 

Themes and Priority Recommendations: Audience/Action Needed

A matrix of high impact recommendations (selected from action plans developed by the HWDC implementation teams) was developed using the following criteria:

• High impact on the successful implementation of Health Care Reform
• Contribution to addressing priority workforce needs
• Feasibility/probability of achieving intended results
• Cost
• Potential availability of resources

Those priorities were then organized under seven broad themes related to the development of a comprehensive strategy for health workforce development. As a part of the implementation strategy, the HWDC prioritized the recommendations by major type of action required: legislative, administrative, funding opportunities education leadership and workforce system. 

Action Plan Ad Hoc Committee

The California Workforce Investment Board (State Board), at the direction of the Health Workforce Development Council’s (Health Council) Action Plan Ad Hoc Committee (Committee) is providing a public comment period for the Committee’s Action Plans. These are the first drafts of the action plans and we encourage stakeholders to provide comments and suggested edits.
 
All comments and edits will be forwarded to the action plan development teams for review and consideration for the final drafts.  

  Action Plan Ad Hoc Committee

Phase I of the action plans were available for public comment during the period of February 22 through March 30, 2012 and included the following action plans:

• Community Health Worker-Promotores 
• Clinical Lab Scientist 
• Medical Assistant 
• Nursing 
• Physician Assistant 
• Primary Care Physician 
• Public Health 
• Social Work 
• Crosscutting – Cultural Responsiveness and Sensitivity 
• Crosscutting – Data Clearinghouse 
• Crosscutting – Education 
• Crosscutting – Recruitment and Retention

Phase II of the action plans are available for public comment from September 12 through September 28, 2012 and include the following:

• Imaging
  
• Oral Health
  
• Home Health Aides and Certified Nurse Assistant
  
  

The following policy brief is also available for review and comment:

• Alcohol and Drug Counselors Policy Brief
  

Action plans may be accessed by clicking the titles above. Comments may be submitted to: Discuss.Issues@cwib.ca.gov.  When providing comments we ask that you provide the name of the profession/crosscutting issue and the page in the document which you are referencing.

Background

At the December 14, 2011 Health Council meeting, the membership requested the formation of the Action Plan Ad Hoc Committee (Committee).  The purpose of the Committee was to:

• Assist the Health Council in moving recommendations gathered as a part of federal Health Care Workforce Development Planning grant into action and implementation
• Solidify the infrastructure for California’s healthcare workforce
• Utilize the recommendations to establish implementation leads and plan
• Confirm the overarching Mission of the Health Council

The Committee was comprised of Health Council members and other interested stakeholders.  The Committee met three times during January and February 2012.  As a result of those meetings, draft action plans were developed for the health professions and crosscutting issues listed above.

The Committee acknowledged that there are a broad array of stakeholders throughout California that have been examining these occupations and issues.  The Health Council requested the State Board provide an opportunity for broad public comment on its Action Plans.  This will give entities that have similar efforts underway an opportunity to provide comments to help ensure California has the benefit of these efforts.

The action plans will be presented at the next Health Council meeting. 

Career Pathway Sub-Committee

The California Workforce Investment Board (State Board), in consult with the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, will reconvene the Career Pathway Sub-Committee (Committee), a sub-committee of its Health Workforce Development Council.  The Committee is comprised a cross-section of educational system representatives, employers, workforce development professionals, advocacy and professional associations, and researchers.

The State Board will enter into a State of California Interagency Agreement (IAA) with an entity to provide services to include, but not limited to, the facilitation of these Committee meetings and costs associated with the deliverables.  Proposals will be accepted from entities that have the ability to enter into an IAA with the State of California, including but not limited to, California Community Colleges, California State Universities and the University of California system. Proposals are due by close of business on Thursday, March 15, 2012.  Click here for the scope of work and application instructions for interested parties.

• Existing and potential health career pathways that may increase access to primary care
• Existing education and training capacity and infrastructure to accommodate the career pathways needed to increase access to primary care
• Academic and healthcare industry skill standards for high school graduation, entry into postsecondary education, and         various credentials and licensure
• Availability of career information and guidance counseling to existing and potential health professions students and residents
• Big picture issues around recruitment, retention, attrition, transfer, articulation and curricular disconnects, and the identification of policies needed to facilitate the progress of students between education segments in California
• Need for pilot/demonstration projects in eligible health personnel categories, or new health personnel categories

Career Pathway Sub-Committee Final Report

• Career Pathway Sub-Committee Final Report 10-10-12
  
• Career Pathway Sub-Committee Final Report 12-7-11