the health services research workforce: current stock

The Health Services Research Workforce:

Current Stock

Health Services Researchers of 2020 Summit

November 30, 2007

Jean Moore, DirectorCenter for Health Workforce Studies

School of Public Health, SUNY at Albanyhttp://chws.albany.edu

Center for Health Workforce StudiesSchool of Public Health – University at Albany, SUNY, November 2007

The Center for Health Workforce Studies

Based at the School of Public Health at SUNY Albany

Our mission is to provide timely, accurate data, and conduct policy-relevant research about the health workforce

Our goal is to inform public policies, the health and education sectors and the public


Research Questions How many individuals are conducting

health services research? Where is their work featured? What do they look like? What do they study and how do they

study it?


Health Services Researchers Have Diverse Backgrounds

Multidisciplinary or Interdisciplinary Health

Services Researchers

Medical Sociology

Health Economics

Health Policy

Public Health

Medicine

NursingHealth Care Management


Health Services Research Is Featured in Many Venues

HSR-specific AcademyHealth membership and meeting

participants HSRProj (Health Services Research Projects in

Progress) Health Services Research Medical Care

Not HSR-specific Peer-reviewed journals Research conferences


A Conservative Count of Health Services Researchers

AcademyHealth 8,463HSRProj 3,947Health Services Research 294Medical Care 385Total (with duplicates) 13,089

Unduplicated Count 11,596


Beyond a Conservative Count

American Society of Health Economists (ASHE) conference attendees, 2006

American Public Health Association (APHA) Annual Meeting paper and poster authors, 2007

American Sociological Association (ASA) participants in 42 health-related sessions, 2007

First three authors from original research articles in 11 health-related peer-reviewed journals


% Included in the Conservative Count of HSRers

ConferencesAmerican Society of Health Economists 49.3%American Public Health Association 11.0%American Sociological Association (health-related sessions) 10.9%

JournalsInternational Journal of Health Care Finance and Economics 43.8%Milbank Quarterly 42.7%Health Affairs 40.3%Journal of Healthcare Management 38.5%Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 35.2%Journal of Mental Health Policy and Economics 31.7%Journal of Health and Social Behavior 16.3%American Journal of Public Health 16.1%Journal of the American Medical Association 13.0%Journal of Public Health Policy 8.9%New England Journal of Medicine 7.4%


Silos or a Core? There is a small group of health

services researchers whose work is featured in many different venues

There are a large number of health services researchers who appear in only one place or in venues associated with only one discipline


2007 Salary Survey of AcademyHealth members Provides demographic and

background data 1,317 responses

38.6% Response Rate 37.1% of Membership


Respondents by Gender, 2007


Respondents by Age, 2002 & 2007

1.2%

16.9%

28.8%

23.4%

3.1%

18.9%

35.0%

27.0%25.9%

16.8%

0.7%

2.8%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

< 25 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+

2007 2002


Race/Ethnicity of 2007 Respondents Compared to the U.S. Population

4.5%

14.4%

83.8%

8.4% 2.1% 2.0% 0.2%3.4%

66.9%

12.8%

1.5% 1.0%

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

Respondents U.S. population


Ten Most Common Educational Background of Respondents, 2007

Top Ten Degrees Doctorate in Health Services Research 191 14.5% Doctorate in Medicine (MD) or Osteopathy (DO) 139 10.6% Doctorate in Economics 120 9.1% Doctorate in Health Policy 73 5.5% Master's in Public Health 69 5.2% Doctorate in Sociology 52 3.9% Master's in Public Policy 49 3.7% Doctorate in Psychology 48 3.6% Doctorate in Nursing 39 3.0% Doctorate in Public Health 32 2.4% Total 812 61.7%


Current Employment Setting

49%

10%

41%

56%

10%

34%

56%

7%

33%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Academic Government Private

2007 2002 Membership


Primary Job Titles of Respondents, 2007

14.9%13.2%13.1%

11.2%10.4%

4.9%

2.7% 2.3% 2.2% 1.8%0.7% 0.2%

22.4%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

Resea

rch

Staff

Profe

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Assist

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rofe

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Assoc

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Profe

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Admini

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Policy

Ana

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Post-d

octo

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llowsh

ip

Progr

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Inst

ruct

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Projec

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Stude

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tern

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er


Median 2007 Salary by Gender and Highest Degree ($1,000s)

$140

$171

$111 $109

$128

$93

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

Non-clinical doctorateonly

Clinical doctorate only Both clinical and non-clinical doctorate

Men Women


Health Services Researchers Enjoy High Job Satisfaction 92.5% are satisfied with their current

profession/occupation 62.9% report it is very or somewhat

unlikely they would initiate a job search in the next year

Relatively few respondents reported that they were “very anxious” about their job security over the next year (3%), and six in ten felt no anxiety about their job security.


Methods: Content Analysis of 2005 HSRProj Abstracts HSRProj is a database of current

health services research Most recent complete year is 2005 Research was classified based on

MESH terms associated with abstracts to identify the types of services, populations, and conditions commonly studied and methods commonly used


Common Themes in HSRProj, 2005

Top Services Studied: Medicare (8%) Primary Health Care (7%) Patient Education (6%) Mental Health Services (6%) Public Health (6%)



Top Populations Studied: Children (15%) Women (13%) Aged (13%)


Common Themes in HSRProj, 2005 Top Research Methods:

Program Evaluation (19%) Program Development (18%) Outcome Assessment (13%) Randomized Controlled Trials (10%) Data Collection (9%) Intervention Studies (9%) Treatment Outcome Studies (8%)



Top Conditions Studied: Neoplasms ( 10%) Obesity (7%) Substance-Related Disorders (6%) Mental Disorders (5%)


Limitations We have only identified health services

researchers from the most obvious sources We have little information on the

characteristics of health services researchers in various disciplinary “silos”

Our analyses may include a broader group of researchers than just health services research (e.g. those doing health policy or biological research)


Conclusions Health services researchers are drawn

from many disciplines Increasingly, health services research

involves international collaborations


Findings Health services research degree programs are

an important source – but not the primary source – of health services researchers

Most health services researchers are based in academic settings

Program evaluation and program development are central competencies in HSR

Health services research is an attractive career field for doctoral-educated researchers


Findings Salary disparities by gender are

problematic The health services research

workforce lacks diversity, with few African Americans and Hispanics

It is difficult to separate the U.S. from the international HSR workforce


How Can We Better Prepare the Future Health Services

Research Workforce?

Better understand how to bring together health services researchers from various disciplinary “silos” and from other parts of the world

Collection of information on health services researchers must extend beyond current efforts

More consistent monitoring of the health services research workforce

the health services research workforce: current stock

Documents

health affairs40

journal of health politics

public policies

american medical association13

original research articles

unduplicated count11

poster authors

suny albanyour mission