Without immediate action to develop an integrated, comprehensive, national health workforce policy, the U.S. is at risk of losing its status as the global health care leader, states a new report released by the Association of Academic Health Centers (AAHC). The report was funded in part by the Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation. Out of Order, Out of Time: The State of the Nation's Health Workforce warns that the nation is running out of time to ensure an adequate health workforce to meet the needs of our aging population, such as the increased demand for health services and other critical socioeconomic challenges for health care.

Key recommendations in the report include:

* Making health workforce a priority domestic policy issue;

* Developing an integrated, comprehensive national health workforce policy that recognizes and compensates for the inherent weaknesses and vulnerabilities of current decentralized multi-stakeholder decision-making; and

* Establishing a national planning body to create a national workforce agenda and promote a national health workforce policy that ensures the nation's health and economic well-being. Diverse federal and state agencies, along with multiple public and private stakeholders, should participate.

To download an electronic copy of the report, visit http://www.aahcdc.org/policy/workforce.php. The AAHC is a national non-profit association dedicated to advancing the nation's health and well-being through leadership in health professions education, patient care, and research.

Source: Press release, Association of Academic Health Centers, July 21, 2008.