Trends in Retail and Urgent Care Clinics in Nebraska

There is considerable interest nationwide in the growth of retail clinics (kiosks located inside a retail store, supermarket, or pharmacy that treat simple illnesses and provide preventive care services) and urgent care clinics (walk-in clinics that treat injuries or illnesses requiring immediate attention). These clinics have the potential to improve access to healthcare by providing more convenient care and transparent prices (compared to a typical physician office visit). This brief describes the trend in the number of retail and urgent care clinics in Nebraska. We found a 40% increase in the number of urgent care clinics from 2008 to 2013, and we found no increase in the number of retail clinics. Currently, 55 retail and urgent care clinics operate in Nebraska, with 71% located in Douglas, Lancaster, or Sarpy County. The demand for primary care will increase next year as more people gain health insurance coverage through the provisions of the Affordable Care Act and are in search of primary care services. State health policy has the potential to address the needs of Nebraskans for convenient and affordable care by identifying and supporting innovative changes in healthcare access.https://digitalcommons.unmc.edu/coph_policy_reports/1003/thumbnail.jp

Active Primary Care Physicians in Nebraska: Data Comparison, Supply, and Characteristics

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Primary Care Nurse Practitioners in Nebraska

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The Status of the Healthcare Workforce in the State of Nebraska

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Primary Care Physician Assistants in Nebraska

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Improving Behavioral Health Workforce Supply and Needs Estimates Using Active Surveillance Data

INTRODUCTION: Previous studies show that supply of behavioral health professionals in rural areas is inadequate to meet the need. Measuring shortage using licensure data on psychiatrists is a common approach. Although inexpensive, the licensure data have many limitations. An alternative is to implement an active surveillance system, which uses licensure data in addition to active data collection to obtain timely and detailed information. METHODS: Nebraska Health Professions Tracking Service (HPTS) data were used to examine differences in workforce supply estimates between the passive (licensure data only) and active (HPTS data) surveillance systems. The impact of these differences on the designation of psychiatric professional shortage areas has been described. Information regarding the number of psychiatrists, advanced practice registered nurses and physician assistants specializing in psychiatry was not available from the licensure database, unlike HPTS. RESULTS: Using licensure data versus HPTS data to estimate workforce, the counts of professionals actively practicing in psychiatry and behavioral health were overestimated by 24.1-57.1%. Ignoring work status, the workforce was overestimated by 10.0-17.4%. Providers spent 54-78% of time seeing patients. Based on primary practice location, 87% of counties did not have a psychiatrist and 9.6% were at or above the Health Professional Shortage Area designation ratio of psychiatrists to population. CONCLUSION: Enumeration methods such as ongoing surveillance, in addition to licensure data, curtails the issues and improves identification of shortage areas and future behavioral workforce related planning and implementation strategies

The Cancer Care Workforce in Nebraska

Although cancer is the leading cause of death in Nebraska, the adequacy of Nebraska’s cancer care workforce to care for the cancer population is unknown. Therefore, we used workforce survey data for 2008-2012 from the Health Professions Tracking Service to analyze the cancer care workforce supply in Nebraska. We found that from 2008 to 2012, the cancer care workforce for adults outpaced cancer prevalence. We outline several policy options to improve Nebraska’s cancer care workforce capacity, and we consider the effect the Affordable Care Act may have on Nebraska’s cancer care workforcehttps://digitalcommons.unmc.edu/coph_policy_reports/1005/thumbnail.jp

Needs Assessment for Behavioral Health Workforce: A State-Level Analysis

This study describes trends in the supply and the need for behavioral health professionals in Nebraska. A state-level health workforce database was used to estimate the behavioral health workforce supply and need. Compared with national estimates, Nebraska has a lower proportion of all categories of behavioral health professionals. The majority of Nebraska counties have unusually high needs for mental health professionals, with rural areas experiencing a decline in the supply of psychiatrists over the last decade. Availability of robust state-level health workforce data can assist in crafting effective policy for successful systems change, particularly for behavioral health