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HRSA-funded Health Workforce Center Will Open Soon

The new HRSA-funded Health Workforce Information Center (HWIC), which goes live Feb. 5, will provide free access to the most recent resources on the nation’s health workforce.

Operated by the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, the new site will offer the latest on:

• health workforce programs and funding sources;
• workforce data, research and policy;
• educational opportunities and models;
• best practices; and
• related news and events, also available through e-mail updates.

In addition, information specialists will be on hand with free customized assistance to locate statistics, create data-based maps, develop lists of possible funding sources, and connect users to the right group or experts.

The health workforce includes physicians, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, mental health and other health care providers and their support staff.

The HWIC aims to help organizations hiring health care providers and those preparing the next generation of health professionals. Government officials, health researchers, law and policy makers and students also can benefit from the new site.

Mary Wakefield, associate dean of UND’s School of Medicine and HWIC director, told Inside HRSA that “with the health workforce such a critical topic now, it’s essential that all stakeholders have ready access to the type of useful, user-friendly and very current information the HWIC will make available.”

As a nurse and nursing education administrator, Wakefield knows that most people, especially in the health care field, often just don’t have the time to spend searching for the information they need.

The HWIC’s searchable database will “push information to their fingertips,” she said. That way, “useful, ‘just-in-time’ information will be available to help inform good decisions — whether in hospitals, universities or on Capitol Hill.”

Marcia Brand, HRSA associate administrator for health professions, expects to look to the HWIC in the same way she relies on the Rural Assistance Center (RAC). The RAC, also supported by HRSA and run by UND, has been regarded as the federal government’s “single point of entry” for information on rural health and human services since its launch six years ago.

As with the RAC, when Brand (formerly HRSA’s associate administrator for rural health policy) needs hard-to-find facts and figures, she intends to query HWIC information specialists, several of whom worked on the RAC. And within 24 hours, sometimes the same day, she can expect a well-researched response.

“We know there are tough decisions to be made and we’re here to help — in the trenches with our sleeves rolled up,” Wakefield added. “And we’re part of an academic environment that allows us to consider a whole range of issues — with health care writ large.”

Readers can contact the HWIC now at info@healthworkforceinfo.org or call 1-888-332-4942. Sign up at www.healthworkforceinfo.org to get more information about the HWIC launch.

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