At the Bowen Center, we’re proud to collaborate with partners across the state who are driving meaningful change in health workforce development. Our long-standing partnership with the Indiana Department of Health includes providing administrative support to the new Health Workforce Council, an initiative focused on building a more coordinated and responsive health workforce strategy for Indiana.
In this guest blog, Brooke Mullen, Executive Director of the Health Workforce Council, shares how this effort is shaping the future of the health workforce in our state.
How Is the State Supporting Strategic Health Workforce Planning?: Brooke Mullen, Executive Director of the Indiana Health Workforce Council
In 2024, Indiana launched the Health Workforce Council as a partnership between the Indiana Department of Health (IDOH) and the Family & Social Services Administration (FSSA). The council is the result of a recommendation from then-Gov. Eric J. Holcomb’s Public Health Commission.
The council, chaired by State Health Commissioner Lindsay Weaver, MD, FACEP, brings together state government representatives and other stakeholders who are focused on practical and innovative solutions to grow the health workforce capacity of our state.
I have the privilege of serving as executive director for the council, joining IDOH in November 2023 for this role. I have worked in state government for 16 years, previously with the Department of Workforce Development (DWD) and the Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA).
The council’s mission is to create and lead an integrated and intentional framework for strengthening the health workforce within our state. To do this, the council works to coordinate initiatives and leverage existing programs throughout the state, seeks to expand recruitment, training, placement, and retention of health workforce into areas of need, and to identify and collaborate on incentive programs and strategies to target those areas of need.
In establishing the council, our approach was to bring together a group of individuals who could represent broad areas of subject matter expertise and experience themselves but also have a larger network to include in some of these important conversations. The council is comprised of members of the executive and legislative branches of state government, but primarily represents clinicians, educators, and employers throughout our state. Our intention is to get a “boots on the ground” perspective of experiences.
During the spring of 2024, IDOH, in conjunction with the Bowen Center for Health Workforce Policy and Research, hosted a day-long Health Workforce Summit and conducted a Health Workforce Survey with stakeholders representing more than 45 organizations, including healthcare employers, educators, professional associations, and state government. Through these initiatives, priority topics were identified and include behavioral and mental health, obstetrics, and family medicine and pediatrics.
The council meets on a quarterly basis, and meetings are open to the public. For more information, check out our website at https://www.in.gov/health/directory/office-of-the-commissioner/health-workforce-council/.