Overview
In the Health Workforce Research Center (HWRC) on Allied Health, we provide high-quality and easily accessible research on the supply and distribution of a diverse, culturally competent allied health workforce, and identifying innovative models of education, training and integrative health care delivery that leverage the skills of that workforce. We conduct research studies with the goal of informing policy and practice recommendations that support an ecosystem where health workers can thrive. This HWRC is one part of a wider portfolio of research CHWS conducts on allied health (see our list of studies). UW CHWS received our first competitive grant to support research on the allied health workforce from 2014 to 2017, a second round from 2017 to 2022, and a third round from 2022 to 2027.
The contents of publications resulting from research supported by the HRSA’s National Center for Health Workforce Analysis are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement by HRSA, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, or the U.S. Government. For more information, please visit HRSA.gov.
What is Allied Health?
The term “allied health” was first popularized when the federal Allied Health Professions Personnel Training Act was passed in 1967. While it is generally accepted that allied health professions do not include physicians, dentists, or nurses, there is not general agreement on a single list of occupations covered under this broad term. An allied health professional is defined within the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) simply as “an individual who graduated with an allied health professions degree or certificate, and is employed as an allied health professional in a health care setting” and references the Public Health Service Act, which defines allied health as trained professionals, other than registered nurses or physician assistants, who share “in the responsibility for the delivery of healthcare services or related services, including services relating to the identification, evaluation, and prevention of disease and disorders, dietary and nutrition services, health promotion services, rehabilitation services, or health systems management services.”
- Build data and methodological resources that can be used to describe the supply, demand and distribution of allied health workers in the US.
- Identify new models and innovations that can be used to promote allied health career pathway development and that attract a diverse workforce.
- Conduct specific studies that deepen understanding of critical allied health workforce issues, including rapid response requests that address emerging policy questions.
- Efficiently disseminate research findings in user-friendly, easily accessed formats to inform researchers, workforce planners, educators, and policymakers.
Examples include:
- Behavioral health workforce
- Clinical/medical laboratory workforce
- Community paramedics
- Emergency medical services
- Health information workforce
- Home care aides/health health aides
- Long-term care workforce
- Medical assistants
- Medical billers and coders
- Medical interpreters and translators
- Nursing assistants
- Occupational therapists
- Occupational therapy assistants
- Oral health workforce
- Pharmacists
- Pharmacy technicians
- Physical therapists
- Physical therapy assistants
- Physician assistants
- Respiratory therapists
- Identifying the roles of the allied health workforce and how these roles have been changing over time.
- Understanding the demand for allied health occupations and how to ensure the demand is met.
- Exploring whether and how these occupations should be regulated.
- Examining career pathways and career lattices for allied health professions.
Funding amount: $481,421
- Y11-1: Communities with High Rates of Pharmacy Closures: Impact on the Pharmacy Workforce
- Y11-2: Relationships between Therapy Staff Turnover and Skilled Nursing Facility Outcomes
- Y11-3: Allied Health Labor Supply Response to Wage and Benefit Changes
- Y11-4: Estimating Separate National Supply Characteristics of Healthcare Technician and Technologist Occupations with Combined Federal Standard Occupation Classification Codes
Funding amount: $608,211
- Y10-1: The Role of Health Insurance in Turnover among Low-Wage Health Care Workers
- Y10-2: COVID-19 Effect on Commuting Patterns of Allied Health Workers
- Y10-3: Physician Partnership with the Behavioral Health Workforce to Treat Patients with Behavioral Health Conditions in Rural and Urban Areas
- Y10-4: Artificial Intelligence in Health Care: Applications and Implications for the Allied Health Workforce
- Y10-5*: Impacts of Skilled Nursing Facility Change of Ownership on Staffing
*denotes study with supplemental funding
Funding amount: $671,875
- Y9-1: Career Mobility of Allied Health Workers During the Pandemic
- Y9-2: Finding a Career Path into the Clinical Laboratory Workforce
- Y9-3: Employment and Economic Security Among Health Care Workers During the Evolution of the COVID-19 Pandemic
- Y9-4: Envisioning New Career Pathways for Pharmacy Technicians
- Y9-5*: What is Driving the Enrollment Crisis at Schools and Colleges of Pharmacy
- Y9-6*: Staffing of Allied Health Professionals in Skilled Nursing Facilities
*denotes study with supplemental funding
Funding amount: $450,000
- Y8-1: Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Community Pharmacist Patient Care and Future Workforce Needs
- Y8-2: COVID’s Effect on Leveraging Public Data to Track the Allied Health Workforce
- Y8-3: System Level Supports and Barriers Home Care Workers Face During the COVID-19 Pandemic
- Y8-4: Examining Local Public Health Workforce Capacity and Challenges in Addressing Population Health Needs
Funding amount: $450,000
- Y7-1: Unintended Consequences of Academic Inflation
- Y7-2: Shifting Roles and Skills of the Allied Health Workforce in Primary Care Due to Increased Use of Telehealth During the COVID-19 Emergency
- Y7-3: How Financial Support During the COVID Crisis Affected the Federally Qualified Health Center Workforce
- Y7-4: Growth and Sustainability of the U.S. Community Paramedic Workforce to Address Unmet Healthcare Needs
*denotes study with supplemental funding
Funding amount: $619,908
- Y6-1: What are Career Pathways to Registered Nursing?
- Y6-2: Occupational Therapists as part of the Behavioral Health Workforce
- Y6-3: Are Allied Health Providers Sick? If So, Are There Wage Consequences Associated with Being Sick?
- Y6-4: The Emergency Medical Services and Community Paramedic Workforces Response to COVID-19
- Y6-5*: Where and From What Industries are Health Care Workers Entering Health Care Jobs and Where are We Losing Them During COVID-19?
- Y6-6*: How are Allied Health Workers Being Deployed During COVID-19?
- Y6-7*: What Health Care Jobs and Skills are in Demand During COVID-19?
*denotes study with supplemental funding
Funding amount: $601,188
- Y5-1: Role of Allied Health Professions in Treating Pain
- Y5-2: Apprenticeships as Pathways to Healthcare Careers: Experiences of Employers Using Medical Assistant Apprenticeships
- Y5-3: Leveraging Data Phase IV: Mapping Movement of Allied Health
- Y5-4: Supply of and Demand for Therapy Services in Skilled Nursing Facilities
- Y5-5*: Assessing the Size and Scope of the Pharmacist Workforce in the US
*denotes study with supplemental funding
Funding amount: $536,570
- Y4-1: Allied Health Professionals and the “Gig Economy”: Trends in Alternative Work Arrangements
- Y4-2: The Role of Apprenticeships in Meeting Employers’ Demand for Allied Health Occupations
- Y4-3: Leveraging Data to Monitor the Allied Health Workforce: Phase III
- Y4-4: State Incentive Programs that Encourage Allied Health Professionals to Provide Care for Underserved Populations
- Y4-5*: Trends in the Supply and Demographics of Oral Health Providers in Rural Communities, 2005-2015
*denotes study with supplemental funding
Funding amount: $495,165
- Y2-1: Career Paths of Allied Health Professionals
- Y2-2: Emerging Roles in Allied Health Occupations
- Y2-3: Immigrants in Allied Health Professions
- Y2-4: Data for Allied Health Workforce Research
- Y2-5*: Emerging Health IT Roles and Skillsets
*denotes study with supplemental funding
Funding amount: $518,489
- Y1-1: Characteristics of Physician Assistant Students Planning to Work in Primary Care
- Y1-2: Veterans’ Pathways to Allied Health
- Y1-3: Veterans in Allied Health
- Y1-4: Low Skilled, Low-wage Workers in Health Care
- Y1-5*: Behavioral/Mental Health Workforce for Integrated Primary Care
*denotes study with supplemental funding
Each year, HRSA may request the HWRC up to four time per year to provide a rapid response to a pressing policy relevant question. We post those products that are available for the public.
These studies are supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.