Imagine you are looking to hire a care coordinator for your primary care practice to help patients with chronic conditions more successfully manage their health care.
However, you don’t know what skills and training should be required of potential care coordinators.
A new online library of local and national health care workforce resources and initiatives can help. The library, available here, was developed to share ideas and information with health care employers on training, recruiting and retaining workers in our nine-county Finger Lakes region.
Commissioned by the Regional Consortium on Health Care Workforce, the library is part of the planning group’s efforts to address labor shortages, wage pressures, professional development and other workforce challenges in our region.
“Preparing for the future of health care is critical,” said Anne Ruflin, chief planning officer for Common Ground Health. “This online library will speed the adoption of best practices and give colleagues a one-stop resource for learning about local programs and training opportunities.”
The structure of the library replicates a roadmap developed by the workforce consortium which identified local initiatives, gaps in services and cross-cutting issues in health care.
“This library allows us to share information in a dynamic manner as the needs of our region grow and change,” Ruflin said. “There’s a lot of incredible work being done by our partners in this space, and this platform is adaptable to their needs.”
For instance, the library provides a link to a comprehensive list of health-related educational degrees offered by 18 educational institutions in the area.
The page also highlights strategies for improving health care delivery, such as responding to proposed policy changes and following the state Department of Health’s regulatory modernization initiative. Eventually, the page should track workforce trends, to help evaluate whether local efforts to alleviate labor shortages are working.
Co-convened by Common Ground Health and the Regional Economic Development Council, the Regional Consortium on Health Care Workforce has created a rare opportunity over the past two years for colleagues from education, health care, insurance and business to collaborate on solutions to some of their most challenging labor issues, said Ruflin.
“Even after the consortium wraps up its work, that spirit of partnership will continue and expand to other online users through this new library,” she said.
