Regulators are poised to champion health workforce data collection and informed policy and can leverage the new Cross-Profession Minimum Data Set to do so. This article is based on a 2023 Annual Education Meeting presentation by Hannah Maxey.
Many regulators know the number of professionals licensed in their state, but that doesn’t mean they know the number who are actively engaged in the practice of physical therapy with residents of a state or jurisdiction. If PT boards are providing the total sum count of licensed professionals in their state to their legislatures when they're making decisions about state appropriations, this could be misleading. It’s possible that 10%, 20%, or even more aren't even in clinical practice.
For example, in Indiana, before collecting supplementary data, state leaders thought there were 25% more physicians practicing within its borders until leaders implemented a question asking whether surveyed individuals were providing direct patient care to residents of the state of Indiana. That one question whittled down the numbers quickly. Similarly, Utah recently used the CPMDS to gain a better picture of the behavioral health practitioners in their jurisdiction. The tool led them to realize that, while perhaps 16,600 individuals in the state had an active license, only 5,600 could be considered full-time practitioners delivering care to patients in Utah.
Being equipped with the right data, such as how many licensees are actively engaged in your state, can be transformational. In the case of Indiana, this information has led to federal dollars coming into the state to support workforce development, as well as the state legislature appropriating funds to support education expansion and workforce development initiatives.
As regulators, we must ensure the competence of professionals and the protection of the public, and those concerns are connected to understanding if our jurisdictions have adequate workforce resources. Regulators are not only uniquely positioned, but there is a strong rationale that they have a vested interest in ensuring that what is reported to state leadership reflects that workforce capacity.
Therefore, FSBPT sought an effective way to compile workforce data to assist regulators, states, and jurisdictions in understanding the composition and availability of professionals within their region across various healthcare fields and to better inform policy. The FSBPT Board aimed to develop a Cross-Profession Minimum Data Set (CPMDS). To bring this concept to fruition, the Board began working collaboratively with several other healthcare professionals.
The Board also sought someone to spearhead this project and identified Hannah Maxey, an Associate Professor at Indiana University, Founding Director of the Bowen Center for Health Workforce Research, and Policy Founder and President of Veritas. Thanks to all the individuals and organizations involved, the tool is now available for use!
The CPMDS is a set of core questions for collecting data elements widely considered the “minimum necessary” for health workforce planning. The intent of the CPMDS is to serve as a framework for standardizing data collection across various health professions for the purpose of supporting within and between profession comparisons and analyses. As a framework, the CPMDS questions have been designed with varying levels of standardization. For example, the CPMDS provides standardized questions and response options for data elements that are consistent across the professions (e.g., demographics) but includes flexible questions and response options for data elements requiring customizations (e.g., specialty and setting). The CPMDS has been thoroughly reviewed to ensure it captures the right data and is aligned with other workforce data.
No matter where you are in your workforce data collection journey, there’s a starting point and resources to fit your needs. In August, the Healthcare Regulatory Research Institute (HRRI) launched a new roadmap for enhancing state health workforce data—a companion to the CPMDS and a step-by-step implementation guide to support CPMDS implementation.
The guide is structured like a roadmap with mile markers to look over and think through the steps it would take, including leadership buy-in. There are six mile markers, or steps, tailored to support regulators wherever they may be in the process of workforce data collection. For those unsure, those who started, or those who are already collecting, there are different mile markers to guide you.
CPMDS Roadmap
This complete roadmap guide and supplemental resources are all available on HRRI.org.
Mile 1: Identify How CPMDS Can Fill Gaps in State Workforce Data
Many states already have some level of health workforce data that is already collected and available within your state. The key to leveraging primary data is understanding 1) where the data is collected and housed, and 2) what specific information is available.
Mile 2: Determine Regulatory Structure and Data Collection Authorities
Implementation of the CPMDS can be accomplished through a variety of mechanisms. Many states have pursued the passage of authorizing legislation which would enable the regulatory entity (state board or agency) to collect information directly from health professionals during renewal.
Mile 3: Select the Data Collection Strategy That Works for Your State
Jurisdictions need to consider how best to collect the data. Cloud-based survey tools offer advantages over paper surveys for licensing purposes. They allow for more targeted questioning and reduce the burden on both licensees and licensing staff. Paper surveys are generally discouraged due to their low response rates and administrative costs. An ideal way to collect this data is to include it in the paperwork at the time of licensing renewal. Often, one-off surveys do not yield good results, and the data collected must be a comprehensive set representative of the workforce across the state or jurisdiction.
Mile 4: Finalize CPMDS Questions for Implementation
Although the CPMDS tool was developed to support customization, many of the key data elements were developed to capture some of the most basic and critical data elements in a standard fashion from all health profession types. This step walks users through how and when to customize the tool.
Mile 5: Secure and Deploy the Resources Needed to Store, Manage, and Analyze the Data
Valuable information on the healthcare workforce is collected during licensing processes, but it's often locked away with other regulatory data and not readily usable. To unlock this data's potential, states need to consider three key principles. First, they need a dedicated storage solution like a Health Workforce Data Library. Second, the raw data needs cleaning, organizing, and formatting into a usable structure, which might require specialists. After that, the data needs analysis and reporting, possibly using data visualization tools.
Mile 6: Transform the data into actionable information using collaboration to maximize impact
And finally, the data should be put into action to inform policy! Leveraging this data can help support smart policies and procedures that address critical issues to the goal of public protection.
Everyone is talking about the workforce and remedying shortages. Everyone wants to find solutions. We have the information and resources to make informed decisions and find the right solutions as part of our mission to protect the public.
Hannah Maxey, is an Associate Professor at Indiana University where she also serves as Founding Director of the Bowen Center for Health Workforce Research and Policy located in Indianapolis, Indiana. She received her PhD from the Department of Health Policy and Management at Indiana University Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health in 2014, and holds a masters degree in public health as well.