In order to fully understand the impact of Chapter 224 legislation on the Commonwealth’s health care workforce, the OSA contracted with Commonwealth Corporation, a quasi-state agency created by the Legislature in 1997. Commonwealth Corporation designs and executes workforce programs in partnership with businesses, educators, and providers. To complete the Chapter 224 reports, Commonwealth Corporation partnered with the Center for Labor Markets and Policy at Drexel University.
For the Chapter 224 work, the team conducted a Baseline Study of the Commonwealth’s health care workforce prior to the implementation of Chapter 224. That initial work resulted in several baseline reports:
- Health Care Employment, Structure and Trends in Massachusetts
- Characteristics of Workers and Jobs in the Massachusetts Health Care Industry; and
- Key Workforce Issues Identified in the Proposals Submitted for the Health Care Workforce Transformation Fund Planning Grants.
A summary analysis of the impact of Chapter 224 on the health care workforce is included in the OSA’s full Chapter 224 report as Chapter 4; the additional reports below provide further data and information.
Selected Health Care Support and Direct Care Occupations in Massachusetts
This special topics report summarizes publicly available data and information gathered through interviews and focus groups with employers, workers, labor leaders and state officials in order to understand the labor market context of three already large and fast growing health care support and direct care occupations: home health aides, personal care aides, and community health workers (CHWs)/social and human service assistants.
Read the report on selected health care support and direct care occupations in Massachusetts .
15 Key Occupations in the Massachusetts Health Care Industry
This research brief presents a profile of 15 occupations in the Massachusetts health care industry. These occupations were selected on the basis of their importance within the state’s health care industry; either because of strong growth in employment or because of the emerging importance of the role that workers in these occupations play in the changing health care service delivery environment in the state.
Read the profile of 15 key occupations in the Massachusetts health care industry.
Characteristics of Workers and Jobs in the Massachusetts Health Care Industry
The paper examines changes that have occurred in the demographic traits and the employment patterns and earnings of the state’s health care workforce between 2011, the year before the passage of Chapter 224, and the most current year for which data are available, 2015.
Read the report on the characteristics of workers and jobs in the Massachusetts health care industry.
Developments in Certificate and Degree Completions in Health Care Fields of Study in Massachusetts, 2001 to 2012 and 2012 to 2015
This paper provides information on trends in post-secondary completions in health care-related fields of study in Massachusetts over the 2001 to 2012 period, representing the period before the passage of Chapter 224 or what the authors label as the “pre-Chapter 224 period” and over the period of three years following the enactment of Chapter 224, 2012 to 2015 which the authors have labeled the “post-Chapter 224 period”.
Health Care Employment Structure and Trends in Massachusetts
Fundamental changes have occurred in the way that health care is delivered in Massachusetts in recent years and this is reflected in the changing nature of demand for labor among the various component industries that make up the health care and social assistance sector. This paper examines the nature of these changes along a variety of labor market related dimensions and makes some observations about the outlook for growth and future change in health care diagnostic and practitioner occupations and in health care support/direct care occupations.
Read about health care employment structure and trends in Massachusetts.
Mass Layoffs in the Health Care Industry in Massachusetts
This paper examines mass layoff activity within the state’s health care and social services industry relative to other major industry sectors over the 2004 to 2012 period, just before the implementation of Chapter 224. This discussion places the mass layoffs that have occurred in the health care and social assistance sector in the context of overall mass layoff activity in Massachusetts.
Read about mass layoffs in the health care industry in Massachusetts.
Summary of Health Care Workforce Transformation Fund Training Grants
As health care employers align with the goals of Chapter 224 and cost controls begin to alter the delivery of health care services in differing ways within the sector, providers are changing some of their business processes, occupational job descriptions, and staffing structures. In anticipation of these changing skill and knowledge demands, Chapter 224 established the Health Care Workforce Transformation Fund. The Fund is designed to support education and training initiatives to help health care employers address workforce challenges that are related to organizational and operational changes they need to make to implement Chapter 224.
Commonwealth Corporation issued a Request for Proposals for Health Care Workforce Transformation Training grants and in 2015 awarded grants to 55 organizations. In 2016 Commonwealth Corporation awarded Training grants to 4 additional organizations, for a total of 59 grants. This paper provides information about the Training grant applications and the 59 grants.
Read the summary of Health Care Workforce Transformation Fund training grants.