Timothy Hoff, Professor of Management, Healthcare Systems and Public Policy
This book examines major transformations in the U.S. health professions workforce, and how various professionals are being affected by a myriad of industry and societal trends as well as new policies within the health care sector. Profound change is occurring within U.S. health care, and the everyday work environments of health professionals will look different than they do today. Focusing on medicine, nursing, physician assistants, and pharmacy, but still covering all health professionals as the critical human capital in health care, the volume describes and analyzes how these professional transformations may impact future policy, practice, theory, and research. The book is unique in that it is equally accessible to scholarly, policy and management, and student audiences. Chapters address the external forces impinging on U.S. health professions and their work; the restratification of the medical profession; trends in the development of other health professional groups; the need for alignment and symbiosis between organizational and professional interests; and innovations in professional training and leadership. Various implications for how we theorize about and study professionals, how we manage and integrate them, and the types of policies required to assure they remain productive, satisfied human capital are also covered. Intended as a first of its kind anthology of the U.S. health professions, this book serves as a must-read primer for those interested in learning more about health professions change in the United States, and the ways in which we should think about this change.
