An Update from the USA: Current Innovations in Health Professions' Workforce Policy Due to Health Reform

This seminar will describe and analyze several important developments in U.S. health professions’ workforce policy over the past several years in response to nationwide health care reform and continued challenges meeting the demand for health care services in the country. Examples of current innovations implemented or being planned include greater use of non-physician providers to deliver care, shifts in clinical training that include more collaborative models of care delivery, work upskilling for various health care workers to free up physician capacity, and structural reforms to increase health professional alignment with their employing organizations. A critical analysis of which types of innovations may work and which may not in meeting health reform challenges will be presented.