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ASPPH

The Center for Health Workforce Studies (CHWS) at the University at Albany School of Public Health recently announced the release of the New York State Health Workforce Planning Data Guide. The new website is an interactive, user-friendly tool that applies visualization techniques to data on health care in New York, including its workforce.

The data guide allows for comparisons by region or by county, and illustrates changes over time.

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The Times Telegram

The Bassett Healthcare Network is cutting through distance and backed-up appointment books to get quick care for children who need mental health treatment…

…Bassett is likely part of a trend toward both telemedicine and telepsychiatry in particular, said Jean Moore, director of the Center for Health Workforce Studies.

“I think there is increasing interest in the use of telehealth for psychiatry services because it’s just so difficult to attract psychiatrists to many parts of the state,” she said.

And child psychiatrists are the rarest of mental-health providers in rural areas, she said. Bennett, for example, is the only full-time child psychiatrist accepting Medicaid patients in Otsego County, and some counties don’t have any.

The value of telemedicine is not limited to psychiatry, though, as other fields struggle to make better use of the workforce, Moore said. She mentioned as examples another Bassett telemedicine program that monitors high-risk patients in their homes, a teledentistry program that does a lot of the prep work before an in-person visit, and a program through which pediatricians can assess children in day care.

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Utica Observer-Dispatch

The Bassett Healthcare Network is cutting through distance and backed-up appointment books to get quick care for children who need mental health treatment…

…Bassett is likely part of a trend toward both telemedicine and telepsychiatry in particular, said Jean Moore, director of the Center for Health Workforce Studies.

“I think there is increasing interest in the use of telehealth for psychiatry services because it’s just so difficult to attract psychiatrists to many parts of the state,” she said.

And child psychiatrists are the rarest of mental-health providers in rural areas, she said. Bennett, for example, is the only full-time child psychiatrist accepting Medicaid patients in Otsego County, and some counties don’t have any.

The value of telemedicine is not limited to psychiatry, though, as other fields struggle to make better use of the workforce, Moore said. She mentioned as examples another Bassett telemedicine program that monitors high-risk patients in their homes, a teledentistry program that does a lot of the prep work before an in-person visit, and a program through which pediatricians can assess children in day care.

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University at Buffalo

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Medical school is a daunting financial proposition for anyone, but for those from underrepresented groups it can be a deal-breaker.

That financial barrier is one of the major factors leading to the lack of physicians from underrepresented groups. Even in a diverse state like New York, where African-Americans and Hispanics/Latinos comprise more than 30 percent of the population, they make up only 12 percent of the physician workforce, according to data from the State University of New York Albany Center for Health Workforce Studies.

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Portland Press Herald

…A decade ago, it would have been impossible for Fichthorne to offer her services without the supervision of a dentist. But in 2008, Maine passed a law allowing hygienists who have obtained a special type of license to work independently.

Since then, the number of licensed, independent practice dental hygienists, or IPDHs, in Maine has inched upward. In 2012, there were at least 37 in the state – compared with 1,196 hygienists who had a traditional license requiring them to work under the supervision of a dentist – according to a report by the Center for Health Workforce Studies at the University at Albany State University of New York.

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Crain’s New York Business

This week’s Pulse Extra focuses on diversity among health professionals in New York state. The Center for Health Workforce Studies at SUNY Albany recently published a report examining the race and ethnicity of doctors, dentists, and nurses from 2011 to 2015, compared to the previous five-year period. A diverse workforce “assures the adequacy of health workforce supply while addressing concerns about social justice,” the Center wrote. The diversity will also help hospitals and clinics provide culturally competent care. Below, we look at demographic trends among physicians and nurses.

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Watchdog.org

Discounting the governor and the state flag, there isn’t much that the secluded backwoods of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula have in common with the urban streets of Detroit. One thing they do have in common: not enough dentists. In all but seven of Michigan’s 83 counties, there is at least one area experiencing a shortage of dental professionals. It’s a truly statewide problem, one that affects a disproportionate number of children and low-income households.

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Kentucky Center for Economic Policy

The proposed changes to Kentucky’s Medicaid expansion include the elimination of dental coverage from the package of benefits for adults. Reducing access to dental care would likely lead to other, more serious health problems and cost the state more in overall Medicaid spending through greater use of emergency room services. Dental care makes up a small portion of the overall budget, but is a very efficient preventative medical service that is critical in Kentucky given our poor oral health.

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Albany Times Union

The University of Albany’s School of Public Health conducts periodic reports on the health care workforce. And while it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the job market is good for newly minted physicians, there are what could be seen as a couple of surprises tucked into the study.

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