Healthcare Workforce

The NGA Center for Best Practices works with states and territories to strengthen their healthcare workforce with the goals of improving health outcomes and reducing costs, generating high quality data, and fostering an accessible, flexible and skilled healthcare workforce. A competent workforce is critical to ensuring that care improves the health of residents and is safe, high quality, available and affordable across a state or territory. The NGA Center works with states and territories to plan for and build a workforce that can meet the needs of a transformed health care system and increase economic activity. This work involves providing technical assistance around key workforce priority areas, including:

  • Health care workforce planning and redesign
  • Identifying strategies to better collect and analyze data to inform and evaluate policy
  • Aligning education and training outcomes with population health needs
  • Building workforce capacity in rural and underserved areas through training, recruitment, retention and technology
  • Aligning licensure and regulation with healthcare workforce goals
  • Identifying mechanisms and implementing state policies to allow providers to practice at the top of their license

Next Generation Of The Healthcare Workforce Project

Concerns about healthcare workforce supply and preparing the next generation of the healthcare workforce have been building for several years for a variety of reasons. In response the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) launched a project to support Governors’ offices and other senior state officials in implementing strategies to strengthen and grow the next generation of the healthcare workforce. By learning directly from other states and national experts, the participating states gained an understanding of innovative and evidence-based policies, programs, and practices to create a positive environment for an enduring healthcare workforce.


Contact Us

For additional information about NGA’s Healthcare Workforce work, please reach out to:


NGA Resources

Addressing Wages of The Direct Care Workforce Through Medicaid Policies

Addressing Wages of The Direct Care Workforce Through Medicaid Policies

The direct care workforce represents a critical component of the United States employment market, yet pay remains low. States have taken a variety of actions through provider rate increases and ...
Supporting Workers with Disabilities by Addressing the Mental and Behavioral Health Workforce Shortage

Supporting Workers with Disabilities by Addressing the Mental and Behavioral Health Workforce Shortage

A lack of psychiatrists, clinical social workers, therapists and other healthcare workers severely limits a state’s ability to serve workers experiencing stress, anxiety, depression and other mental health conditions that ...
Governors’ Health and Humans Services Policy Advisors Institute 2022

Governors’ Health and Humans Services Policy Advisors Institute 2022

The Governors’ Health and Human Services Policy Advisors Institute provided a valuable space for Governors’ advisors, subject matter experts, and partners to convene and learn from each other. by Myra ...
Modernizing the U.S. public health system

Modernizing the U.S. public health system

Public Health infrastructure is the system that supports the planning, delivery and evaluation of the 10 public health essential services. The COVID-19 pandemic emphasized the importance of a robust public ...
Next Generation of the Healthcare Workforce Project

Next Generation of the Healthcare Workforce Project

The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices is working with States in a new learning collaborative on strategies to grow and retain the next generation of the healthcare workforce ...
State efforts to expand the healthcare workforce

State efforts to expand the healthcare workforce

Governors have celebrated the healthcare workforce and called for an increased focus on their recruitment and retention, as well as renewed equitable access to medical career pathways. by Nathan Le ...
States Collaborate to Combat Health Worker Shortage

States Collaborate to Combat Health Worker Shortage

14 states join National Governors Association (NGA) program focused on strategies to grow and retain the next generation of the health care workforce. WASHINGTON – California, Colorado, Missouri and Wyoming ...
Help Wanted: Building a Pipeline to Address the Children’s Mental Health Provider Workforce Shortage

Help Wanted: Building a Pipeline to Address the Children’s Mental Health Provider Workforce Shortage

There is no silver bullet for the mental health crisis but reducing workforce shortages of these critical providers can go a long way to solving the problem. by Jessica Kirchner ...
State Strategies for Sector Growth and Retention of the Direct Care Health Workforce

State Strategies for Sector Growth and Retention of the Direct Care Health Workforce

This issue brief provides a series of multi-sector state and employer strategies to address recruitment and health sector retention of direct care workers while balancing workforce needs, job quality and ...
Webinar: State Strategies for Sector Growth and Retention of the Direct Care Health Workforce

Webinar: State Strategies for Sector Growth and Retention of the Direct Care Health Workforce

This webinar, held Oct 14, 2021, discusses the NGA publication "State Strategies for Sector Growth and Retention of the Direct Care Health Workforce" Direct care workers, including nursing assistants, home ...
Supporting A Trained Direct Care Workforce In Facility Settings During And After The Covid-19 Pandemic

Supporting A Trained Direct Care Workforce In Facility Settings During And After The Covid-19 Pandemic

The direct care workforce is a critical component of a well-functioning health system. These occupations are reliable entry points into the health sector, but limited wage potential as well as ...
Informing Health Care Workforce Policy by Leveraging Data: A Toolkit for States

Informing Health Care Workforce Policy by Leveraging Data: A Toolkit for States

By collecting standardized information on licensed health care professionals, states can streamline health care workforce data collection and analysis to address key policy questions and improve health care access and ...