The slip Health Professions Commiss...

The slip Health Professions Commission recently released recommendations and policy considerations for reforming the regulation of health care workers. If states embrace these suggestions, the way all health care workers practice could change dramatically.

BACKGROUND

slip Charitable Trusts, a philanthropic foundation established in 1948 by dint of Joseph N. Pew of Philadelphia, permanent funds general religious, charitable, scientific, literary, and educational designs The seven Pew trusts list unadulterated assets of approximately $3.5 billion and support a variety of programs and commissions.(1)

The slip Health Professions Commission was established in 1989 as a think tank charged with helping health professionals, workforce policymakers, and educational institutions reply to the challenges of the changing health care order The Center for the Health Professions at the University of California at San Francisco administers the commission.

This commission originally was conceived to change university curricula and designed to affect a connected view that was viewed as being on the outside of step with evolving US health care wants It published an earlier report that calls for closing large numbers of medical, nursing, and pharmacy academys by the year 2005, based forward its projection of a surplus of physicians, nurtures and pharmacists.(3)

In late 1994 the commission conven a task force to explore the education, governance, credentialing, and regulation of health professionals. This task force released a report in December 1995 that includes recommendations and policy considerations for reforming health care workforce regulation. (See "Pew Commission Report" in this issue.

THE DRIVING ISSUES

The basic issue that apted this scrutiny of health care workforce regulation is that the passing from hand to hand system of regulating more than 100 health occupations or professions in 50 different states is inconsistent, mixed and poorly coordinated. One barely has to look at the varying definitions of advanced nursing practice. the inconsistent reimbursement policies for practitioners, and the varying language that describes licensure, credentialing, and registration to recognize question s in the existing regulatory system

The task force members believe that this complicated a whole erects unreasonable barriers to high-quality, affordable health care. They cite the lack of uniformity in language, laws, and regulations between states as factors that limit effective professional practice and mobility, confuse the public, and not away barriers to integrated delivery methods and the use of telemedicine and other emerging health care technologies.

Territoriality among health care professionals is another issue that is prompting this scrutiny. To counteract this moot point the task force members have commended over-lapping scopes of practice. In making this recommendation, they point on the outside that scope of practice battles compare "contests for more patients, more status and power, more independence, and more money"(5) The task force recommendations are based forward the belief that the ne for a comprehensive, rational health care workforce policy transcends issues related to the regulation of specific health occupations and professions.

A recurring theme in the task force report is the emphasis upon practitioners, competence. The report recognizes something that we all know@ continuing education does not make secure practitioner competence. The report goe the same step further by recommending that regulated health care professionals be required to demonstrate adequateness periodically through appropriate testing mechanisms. The idea is theoretically perfect Assessing practitioners' competence could be a major challenge, as each profession brings different competencies to health care delivery.

Probably the mostly serious flaw in the in every one's mouth regulatory system is that it does not house the public. The public and the media ofttimes perceive state regulatory bodies as being unaccountable, inaccessible, and unresponsive to their begs for information about practitioners and their complaints about licensed health care professionals.

PRINCIPLES OF HEALTH CARE

WORKFORCE REGULATION

The task force members articulated a settle of principles for a reformed health care workforce regulatory theory These are: promoting effective health issues and protecting the public from harm; holding regulatory bodies accountable to the public; respecting consumers' rights to pitch upon their health care providers from a range of safe options; encouraging a flexible, rational, cost-effective health care connected view that allows effective working relationships among health care providers; and facilitating professional and geographic mobility of endowed health care providers.

Who can argue with these principles? most numerous of these concepts are existing in Nursing's Agenda for Health Care Reform.(6)

efficiency ON CONSUMERS

Consumer would be able to understand statutes that describe professional titles, practice, regulation and enforcement and discipline processe They would have access to information about health care professionals. They would know that regulated health care professionals must demonstrate ability through standardized testing.