Data Brief: Indiana Mental Health Professionals 2012 Licensure Survey

Understanding Indiana’s healthcare workforce is critical to ensuring that Indiana residents have access to high quality care, to developing programs that train practitioners to meet future needs, and to recruiting and retaining healthcare professionals in Indiana. The mental health workforce in Indiana is composed of social workers, clinical social workers, marriage and family therapists, mental health counselors, psychologists, psychiatrists, and psychiatric/mental health advanced practice nurses. The data summarized here were collected during biennial license renewals in 2012 and 2013, and in a 2014 survey of psychiatric nurses

Recruitment, Retention, and Evaluation Associated with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009

Healthcare workforce shortages are central to healthcare reform discussions and are critical areas of interest for Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH). The National Health Service Corps (NHSC) is a financial incentive program that provides scholarship or loan repayment to primary healthcare providers in return for periods of obligation serving federally designated underserved communities. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) increased funding to the NHSC program with the intent of strengthening and expanding the NHSC program capacity. In addition to building workforce capacity, funding was made available to State Primary Care Offices (PCOs) for the coordination and implementation of activities to support NHSC participants, enhance recruitment and retention post-obligation, and evaluation of the impact of ARRA funding for the NHSC program. Indiana Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) Network entered into a contract with ISDH for the purpose of supporting current ARRA-funded NHSC scholars, clinicians, and obligation sites to improve retention and provider satisfaction. In addition, a team of researchers at the Center for Health Policy (CHP) in the Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) were subcontracted to perform an evaluation of activities outlined in the AHEC contract and evaluate the impact of ARRA funding on NHSC clinician retention, primary healthcare access, and primary care capacity. The NHSC project team, comprised of key personnel from AHEC and CHP, developed and administered surveys, conducted key informant interviews facilitated focus groups to gather data representing perspectives and experiences from ARRA-funded NHSC clinicians and obligation sites administrators to identify key issues and generate recommendations for the Indiana NHSC Program. The NHSC project team was comprised of key personnel from AHEC and CHP. The team developed and administered surveys, conducted key informant interviews, and facilitated focus groups. The activities were carried out to gather data on perspectives and experiences of ARRA-funded NHSC clinicians and site administrators in order to generate recommendations for the Indiana NHSC Program

Data Brief: Indiana Physician Assistants 2012

The physician assistant (PA) workforce in Indiana is growing quickly. Since 2004, the estimated number of non‐government − employed PAs actively working in Indiana has more than doubled, from less than 400 in 2004 to nearly 900 in 2012

Indiana Primary Health Care: Description, Distribution, Challenges, and Strategic Recommendation to Empowered Decision Making

Over the past few years, and in light of the recent Supreme Court ruling on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the result of the 2012 Presidential election, access to health care services has been in the forefront of health care discussions. Driving these discussions are rising chronic disease rates, skyrocketing health care costs, and the ever increasing number of individuals falling into that black hole known as the “uninsured” -- all of which are major burdens on Indiana’s health system. Regardless of ones perspective on health reform, the links between primary health care access, health outcomes, and health care costs are undeniable [1-3]. People with access to primary health care services live longer, healthier lives, and the overall cost of their health care are less than those without access to these services. Ensuring a strong primary health care system across the State of Indiana is crucial to ensuring the health of Hoosiers and improving the efficiency of Indiana’s health system. However, before our current system can be strengthened, it must be understood. This begs the following questions: what is primary care?; why is it important?; who provides these services?; and where are they located? The development and implementation of health policies and primary health care programs that would secure Hoosier health relies on the ability of the State of Indiana to make informed decisions

Three Essays in Health Economics: The Role of Coordination in Improving Outcomes and Increasing Value in Health Care

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)Hospital costs are the largest contributor to US health expenditures, making them a common target for cost containment policies. Policies that reduce fragmentation in health care and related systems could increase the value of these expenditures while improving outcomes. Efforts to address fragmentation of health care services, such as Accountable Care Organizations, have typically been enacted at the scale of health systems. However, coordination within health care facilities should also be explored. In three essays, I analyze the role of coordination in several forms. First, I examine the introduction of interdisciplinary care teams within a hospital. This analysis features care coordination within a health care facility with the potential to reduce resource utilization through improved communication between team members and between patients and their care providers. I find that care coordination reduced length of stay for some patients while maintaining care quality. This combination results in higher value care for patients and hospitals. Second, I explore whether these interdisciplinary care teams impact resource utilization and patient flow throughout the hospital. The primary outcome is reduction in patient transfers to the ICU. Here, care coordination includes interdisciplinary teams as well as coordination between interdisciplinary teams and intensivists in ICUs. Findings from this analysis suggest that ICU transfers were unaffected by care coordination. Finally, I examine coordination on a larger scale. I leverage data from a national database of trauma patients to compare mortality among adolescent patients with isolated traumatic brain injury between adult trauma centers and pediatric trauma centers. Previous work has shown that younger pediatric patients with this injury benefit from treatment at pediatric trauma centers. However, it is unclear whether this benefit extends to older pediatric patients on the cusp of adulthood. I find that, after adjusting for differences in injury severity, adolescent patients have no difference in mortality risk when treated at adult or pediatric trauma centers. This finding supports the current regionalized model of trauma care where severely injured patients are taken to the nearest trauma center, regardless of designation as pediatric or adult.2023-07-0

Focus on Building & Real Estate piece on new costs of developing watershed pro

Focus on Building & Real Estate piece on new costs of developing watershed property, by Barry Sheff, senior VP, and Zachary Henderson, water resources specialist at Woodard & Curran. They discuss urban impaired streams and the rehabilitation of the Long Creek watershed in South Portland. Owners of property in an urban impaired watershed may be subject to additional federal regulatory requirement even if their permit met stormwater rules at the date it was issued

Data Report: 2012 Indiana Substance Abuse Workforce

The substance abuse workforce is a subset of the larger mental health workforce and includes only those professionals who are involved in the treatment of substance abuse issues. This report identifies major trends and includes key data on the substance abuse workforce that may be used to promote meaningful policy discussion and inform evidence-based policy development. Understanding the status of Indiana’s substance abuse workforce is critical to ensuring that Indiana residents have access to high quality care, to developing programs that will train practitioners to meet future needs, and to recruiting and retaining healthcare professionals in Indiana

Indiana Registered Nurse 2011 Licensure Survey Report

A total of 98,235 registered nurse licenses were issued or renewed in 2011. The survey on which this report is based was offered to licensees during the licensure process and received a response rate of 90.7 percent. Of the 80,429 registered nurses who responded to the survey 54,588 were actively practicing in Indiana and 53,591 met the criteria for inclusion in analysis

Data Report: 2012 Indiana Pharmacist Workforce

The report presents key information and data collected on Indiana pharmacists from the biennial Pharmacist Licensure Survey administered by the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency (IPLA). The report identifies major trends and includes key data on the pharmacist workforce that may be used to promote meaningful policy discussion and inform evidence-based policy development. Understanding the status of Indiana’s healthcare workforce is critical to ensuring that Indiana residents have access to high quality care, to developing programs that will train practitioners to meet future needs, and to recruiting and retaining healthcare professionals in Indiana. The Data Report is broken into two major components. The first component provides an overview of the pharmacists in Indiana containing inclusion criteria, workforce distribution, and trends. The second component of the report includes key data tables