Healthcare Workforce Task Force Meeting by Webinar

February 25, 2010

Meeting Minutes

 

Webinar Participants:  Ellen Andrews, Co-chair; David Henderson, Co-chair; Jennifer Filippone; Tanya Court; Pat Carroll; Deb Presbie; Johanna Davis, Linda Perfetto; Kristin Sullivan; Marijane Mitchell

 

Ellen Andrews opened the meeting by welcoming Task Force members.  Today’s webinar includes presentations from three representatives of the CT Department of Public Health regarding CT’s healthcare workforce.  The DPH presenters are Kristin Sullivan, Chief of the Planning and Workforce Development Section, Jennifer Filippone, Chief of the Practitioner Licensing and Investigation Section, and Johanna Davis, Primary Care Officer in the Primary Care and Prevention Section, along with Marijane Mitchell, who will answer questions on the J-1 Visa Waiver.

 

To access Kristin Sullivan’s presentation about CT’s public health workforce, click here.

 

To access Jennifer Filippone’s presentation regarding health practitioner licensing, click here.

 

To access Johanna Davis’ presentation regarding shortages of healthcare practitioners and the National Health Service Corps, click here.

 

David Henderson asked how DPH verifies people who aren’t actually practicing in underserved areas or populations who are underserved.  Jennifer said that beginning 4/1/10, the hospital or other organization that a physician has contracted with for employment is required to provide DPH with documentation demonstrating that up to 30% of the clients the physician would see in the hospital live or reside in medically underserved areas.

 

Ellen asked about the designation of shortage areas, and the fact that a community has to apply for the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) designation and hire a consultant, asking if this is a barrier.  Jennifer said that there used to be an outside consultant who did the applications for shortage areas, but now she is doing them.  DPH is currently doing a reassessment, and there will be a process whereby an area can be designated as underserved, but they aren’t at that point yet.  There is a new DPH staff person who will be working on this.  If anyone knows of a specific shortage area, Jennifer can look into it to begin the process.

 

Ellen said that in a medically underserved area, it’s difficult to find doctors.  She continued, saying that she thought the onus should be put on the state rather than on providers.  Perhaps CT could hire consultants and hire staff to assist with putting applications through.  An increase in Medicare fees would also help to induce physicians to practice in an underserved area.  Jennifer said that the Primary Care Office is currently not fully functioning.  There is a backlog of applications that are in process, but she knows that there are many more areas that could benefit from the designation.

 

Ellen asked how the public health workforce could be increased.  Kristen said that the first problem is in defining the public health workforce.  There needs to be an increased awareness of public health, including the concepts of public health, available careers, and how one gets to a career in public health.  She emphasized the need for public health courses in community colleges.

 

David commented that CT’s public health workforce seems fairly administratively heavy.  He asked if people migrate to this area after a career doing something else or if they migrate upward in the public health system without people coming in after them.  Jennifer said that nurses are spread across DPH working in other areas besides nursing.  Kristen said that the number of administrators is average for an agency of this size.

 

Meeting was adjourned. 

 

Next meeting will be a webinar on 3/1/10 from 9:00 – 10:00 am