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About the Institute
Mission and Vision
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The GW Health Workforce Institute's (GWHWI) mission is to strengthen health workforce policies in the United States and around the world. The health workforce is an essential component of health care systems; policies that address its quality, supply, distribution, and organization hold the keys to improving access to high quality and affordable health care.
This Webinar, narrated by co-directors Fitzhugh Mullan and Patricia Pittman, provides more information on the development and importance of the GWHWI. |
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Why Now?
Healthcare is a major economic force worldwide, and nations increasingly compete for the best and the brightest regardless of the country of education. In this country, the health care industry comprises one sixth of the U.S. economy and employs more workers than any other sector. As we emerge from a major economic recession, health care jobs have continued to grow at a faster pace than jobs in other industries.
Despite the importance of the healthcare workforce, both in the U.S. and abroad, there is a significant governance gap in the development and management of this sector. Health workforce planning and policymaking have a notoriously weak evidence base, and local, state, and national policies remain uncoordinated. Moreover, the phenomenon of professional self-regulation and the power that professional associations yield in the policy sphere further exacerbate the challenge of assessing and addressing the social effectiveness of our health care education, organization, and financing policies.
Despite the importance of the healthcare workforce, both in the U.S. and abroad, there is a significant governance gap in the development and management of this sector. Health workforce planning and policymaking have a notoriously weak evidence base, and local, state, and national policies remain uncoordinated. Moreover, the phenomenon of professional self-regulation and the power that professional associations yield in the policy sphere further exacerbate the challenge of assessing and addressing the social effectiveness of our health care education, organization, and financing policies.
Why Here?
Located in the Department of Health Policy at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C., the GWHWI not only draws upon the resources from the National Capital Area, but also GW's diverse and distinguished faculty. The GWHWI consists of a group of faculty and staff from the Milken Institute School of Public Health, School of Nursing, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, School of Business, Graduate School of Education & Human Development, and the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration. The group represents an array of disciplines, including economics; anthropology; health services research; and education; as well as the professional perspectives of medicine; nursing; physician assistants; and pharmacists. This is consistent with GW’s goal of building on its unique location, expertise in governance and policy orientation and its commitment to cross disciplinary scholarship.
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