Please accept these comments submitted on behalf of the Health Workforce Subcommittee of the Governor’s Council.

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The 2nd paragraph contains the problematic language.

  • 2ndsentence, please strike "advocacy groups" from the list of industry experts. Recognizing the value of neutrality in developing data-based proposals, the leadership team working on the Governor’s Health Workforce Action Plan intentionally omitted representation from advocacy groups.
  • 3rd sentence, please strike the sentence “…to define a new approach to the healthcare system in the state and identify emerging occupations” and replace with “…to develop evidence-based recommendations that address the rapidly-changing needs of the state’s health care system and that identify emerging health care occupations.”
  • 5th sentence, please revise “need for recruitment and retention of physicians in rural areas where earnings are considerable lower as compared with metropolitan areas” to reflect “critical need for recruitment and retention of physicians statewidewith a focus on addressing the economic barriers to physician practice in Oklahoma’s economically depressed and medically underserved areas.”
  • 6th sentence, please strike “One proposed option is to fill this void is the use of non-doctoral advanced healthcare graduates...all of which require a Master’s degree.”Comment: This is inaccurate and isnot a proposed option from the Subcommittee. Please consider replacing this sentence with language that reflects the recommendation from the physician’s workgroup, , “Recommendations from the Health Workforce Subcommittee are to sustain and increase funding for graduation medical education and physician recruitment and retention programs. Additional recommendations aim to support initiatives that increase the supply of all healthcare professionals need to ensure the availability of well-trained, flexible interdisciplinary care teams.”
  • 9th sentence, Please strike “Further need was identified to address gaps in nursing specialties such as registered nurses specifically trained in infection control”. (This was not a recommendation from the HWSC, however, we do recognize that it may have been submitted by regional planning efforts.) Please consider replacing with “Further need was identified to address shortages identified in the nursing profession that have been a result of emerging and new roles for LPNs, RNs and APRNS in a health system that incorporates coordinated care and relies on new payment and reimbursement methodologies that impact demand.”
  • 11th sentence, replace “broadening the scope of community health workers” with formalizing and expanding the profession of community health workers

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  • The description of the HWSC and accomplishments is relatively representative of the work being completed. However, we would like to request consideration of strengthen the language to include the establishment of a physician workgroup and their resulting recommendation to focus on stabilizing existing programs that train, recruit and retain physicians and to examine the economic impact of physicians on the health care industry and the overall industry and economy. We would also like to request the addition of a sentence, “Recognizing that the nursing profession includes the largest percentage of health care workers and thus has significant potential to impact the goals of Oklahoma Works, a nursing workgroup has also been established. This workgroup will identify data limitations in the current forecasting methodology and will produce recommendations to overcome barriers to ensuring an adequate supply of LPNs, RNs, and APRNs in Oklahoma.”

Jana Castleberry

Manager of Health Workforce

Office of Primary Care and Rural Health Development

Oklahoma State Department of Health

1000 NE 10th Street Room 506B

Oklahoma City, OK 74117

(405) 271-9444 x 56520 (temporary 56565)

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