The Department of Health and Human Services is not doing enough to manage its workforce programs, according to a recent report from the Government Accountability Office, the federal government's watchdog agency.
GAO recommended that HHS develop a comprehensive and coordinated planning approach that includes performance measures, identifies any gaps between its workforce programs and national needs, and pinpoints actions to close these gaps. HHS concurred with GAO's recommendations.
HHS oversees 72 healthcare workforce programs.
GAO found the agency lagging in planning and oversight to ensure the workforce met HHS' strategic goals, such as addressing physician shortage in historically underserved areas and providing support to federally funded health centers.
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HHS strategies do not reference workforce issues nor specify how these programs would meet performance targets in order to help the agency meet its strategic goals, GAO noted.
As illustration of some of the issues, GAO pointed out that the Institute of Medicine and the Council on Graduate Medical Education had reported that graduate medical education funding lacks the oversight and infrastructure to track outcomes, reward performance and respond to emerging workforce challenges. Although the two programs received 75 percent of HHS workforce development funds for 2014, they did not address the primary care shortage.
GAO called for a more coordinated effort to help to ensure an adequate supply and distribution of the healthcare workforce.
"Without a comprehensive and coordinated planning approach, HHS cannot fully identify gaps and actions to address those gaps, including determining whether additional legislative proposals are needed to ensure that its programs fully meet workforce needs," GAO concluded.
