Governor Pence Announces Creation of Governor’s Health Workforce Council

Indianapolis – Governor Mike Pence today announced the creation of the Governor’s Health Workforce Council (Council), which is charged with coordinating health workforce-related policies, programs, and initiatives within Indiana in order to reduce cost, improve access, and enhance quality within Indiana’s health system.

“We’ve created the Governor’s Health Workforce Council to help develop data-driven health workforce policies so Indiana’s well-trained health workforce will continue to grow,” said Governor Pence. “Our administration has worked to expand health care access to low-income Hoosiers through the Healthy Indiana Plan 2.0, and our Governor’s Task Force on Drug Enforcement, Treatment, and Prevention is recommending ways we can expand the delivery of substance abuse treatment and mental health care to Hoosiers. By creating this Council, we are bringing together the necessary state agencies, legislators, health care experts, and industry leaders to have a serious discussion on how Indiana can provide quality care to an even greater number of Hoosiers.”

The Council includes members from both the public and private sector, including representatives from the Governor’s office and designees from the Department of Workforce Development, Senate Health and Provider Services Committee, House Public Health Committee, Indiana Professional Licensing Agency, Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, Indiana State Department of Health, Indiana Department of Education, Indiana Commission on Higher Education, Bowen Center for Health Workforce Research and Policy, Anthem, Indiana Hospital Association, Indiana Rural Health Association, and Indiana Primary Care Association. The first public meeting for the Council will be on Monday, February 29, 2016 at 12:30 p.m. in Conference Room A of Indiana Government Center South.

For the past eighteen months, the Governor’s Office worked with the Bowen Center for Health Workforce Research and Policy in the Department of Family Medicine at IU School of Medicine on a project sponsored by the National Governor’s Association (NGA) to help address health care provider shortages in Indiana. The goal of the project was to identify and develop a long-term strategy to ensure that Indiana has an accessible, well-trained, and flexible health workforce that is able to adapt to the ever-changing and growing needs of Hoosiers. At the conclusion of the NGA project, it was recommended that the state of Indiana establish an advisory council for the purpose of coordinating health workforce policy efforts in Indiana and establish a formal partnership for data exchange with the Bowen Center for Health Workforce Research and Policy.