California does not have enough health workers for its large and increasingly diverse population. In partnership with the California Health Care Foundation, Mathematica has produced a suite of new publications on Health Workforce Strategies for California. This work highlights the evidence on the impact of various health workforce policy interventions in an effort to support California’s policymakers and thought leaders as they endeavor to prioritize workforce investments to realize the greatest impact.
“We’re facing a health care workforce shortage across professions and geographies, and it’s particularly severe for urban and rural underserved populations,” said Diane Rittenhouse, senior fellow and lead author for the project. “We’re pleased to help state leaders work together to close the gap between the health workforce we have and the one we need.”
Although California is becoming increasingly diverse, current health professionals don’t reflect these demographic shifts. For example, in 2019, 39 percent of Californians identified as Latinx, but only 14 percent of medical school matriculants and 6 percent of active patient care physicians in California were Latinx. An infographic summarizes key findings from the evidence review addressing this issue. Other publications in the Health Workforce Strategies for California Series include the following:
- A research brief on efforts to expand postbaccalaureate programs to help train health professionals so that the workforce better reflects California’s demographics
- A research brief on expanding teaching hospitals in underserved regions of the state
- A research brief on identifying strategies to increase the number of health care professionals who speak the same language as their patients
