Building the Workforce to Support a Healthy North Carolina

The NC Center on the Workforce for Health (Center) seeks to identify solutions, share
best practices and monitor progress in addressing the state’s health workforce challenges.

NC is in a Health Workforce Crisis

Historic Shortages and Maldistribution

North Carolina has long faced health workforce shortages. The COVID-19 pandemic, combined with a growing and aging population has exacerbated this issue. Rural parts of the state and vulnerable populations have suffered disproportionately from shortages of healthcare providers.

A New Approach

Many previous efforts have been siloed, fragmented or under-resourced. The Center provides a collaborative space for these efforts to come together and address workforce issues across professions, regions, and settings. Shared data and research resources align initiatives and inform comprehensive and persistent action.

Strategic Collaborative Action

The Center will develop partnerships and organize ecosystems to address today’s crises and anticipate future needs. We aim to bring together health employers, workers, educators, regulators, policymakers, and other stakeholders to discuss challenges and identify solutions. Additionally, the Center will serve as a repository for reliable health workforce information and act as a catalyst for developing pathways into the healthcare field.

Uniting Health Stakeholders in North Carolina to Address Shortages

We are collaborative, data-driven and results oriented. By enhancing data infrastructure, we ensure access to relevant, timely data to inform decision-making. Our commitment to sustained, goal-focused work over the necessary timeframe yields results in this complex ecosystem. Conceptualized in early 2021 through a partnership between NC AHEC, NCIOM, and the Sheps Center, the Center leverages the strengths of these organizations. Quarterly stakeholder meetings began in spring 2022, involving over 80 health and workforce groups.

We bring together health stakeholders from across NC to discuss and address the state’s ongoing health workforce shortages

The Center seeks to identify solutions, share best practices, and monitor progress in addressing these challenges. Unlike other organizations that focus on specific professions, geographies, or institutions, the Center provides a forum for a broad and inclusive approach to health workforce development.

Our Current Initiatives:

NC Health Talent Alliance

The NC Health Talent Alliance (HTA), a partnership between the Center, the NC Chamber of Commerce Foundation, and regional AHECs, will quantify the regional demand for healthcare workers and strengthen recruitment, training, and retention programs to meet that demand. This includes developing support systems to help individuals complete healthcare training and collaborating with employers to enhance employee retention. In February of 2024, the HTA conducted its first workforce demand and supply survey. Focused primarily on nursing, the survey aims to provide information about the past, current and future nursing workforce as well as the flow of students through nursing programs to employment. The results are presented both statewide and by region, covering the nine AHEC regions. The survey will take place annually. Click here to see the regional reports and the statewide findings.

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Caregiving Workforce

The NC Department of Health & Human Services and the NC Department of Commerce convened the Caregiving Workforce Strategic Leadership Council to better organize the state government’s efforts to address shortages in direct care, nursing, and behavioral health. The Center actively supports this ongoing work.

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Resource Hub

We curate and compile relevant health workforce data, policy information, and research from multiple sources. The Resource Hub hosts a solutions playbook that offers an in-depth look at health workforce needs by region based on the Health Talent Alliance survey results. Additionally, you will find research, policy and data resources with technical support to identify and utilize the information you need.

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