AARC Participates in the Spring HPN Conference
March 8, 2005
The AARC again participated in the Health Professions Network (HPN) conference which was held on March 4-5th in San Diego California. HPN, a loose affiliation of over 80 participating organizations meets twice annually to address issues important to the Allied Health Community that represents over 60% of the entire U.S. healthcare workforce. They do this by identifying issues of common interest, communicating these issues to all participants, seeking consensus and facilitating responses, and advocating on behalf of allied health to the public, professional associations, and federal and state policy makers.This meeting focused on exploring strategic initiatives for HPN. The keynote speaker, Brad Briggance, PhD, from the University of California at San Francisco Center for Health Professions, presented information about the shortage of healthcare workers. Following his presentation Bill Dubbs, AARC Director of Education and Management, the AARC’s representative to HPN, discussed with him the positive human resource impact of using protocols to reduce misallocation of care. He agreed that delivering care via protocols is an excellent way more efficiently utilize healthcare workers.
Others who addressed the group of attendees included Mary Ann Kelly, Vice President of the Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council who described a very innovative program in which Chicago Healthcare Council partnered with the Chicago Tribune news organization to make junior high school students aware of health care careers. Debra Stock, Vice President, Member Relations of the American Hospital Association reviewed the findings of the AHA’s study which focused on improving the quality of the healthcare workforce. Donna Yurdin of HCA also described a very successful program that dramatically reduced HCA nurse turnover.
The attendees also actively participated in sessions to identify the areas to which HPN should assign highest priority at this time. The need for consistent and accurate data about allied health professions was identified as a top priority. This is particularly important because allied health is under recognized by federal and state policy makers who determine the allocation of financial resources for the development of the allied health workforce. To make this happen, the HPN will organize a data committee and has asked Bill Dubbs to co chair that new committee. Another identified top priority was to lobby for increased federal funding of allied health grants and initiatives. Other important areas were to develop more of a presence with federal agencies including HRSA, DOL and the NIH., to assimilate best practice models addressing faculty shortages, and to increase the number of organizations who actively participate in HPN.
