Workforce Snapshots: Key Insights Into Latest Nursing (RN and APRN) Data

Workforce Snapshots: Key Insights Into Latest Nursing (RN and APRN) Data

by | Apr 23, 2025 | Policy, Reports

The latest Nursing Workforce Snapshots provide an overview of the characteristics and distribution of registered nurses (RNs) and advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) in Indiana. For this round of Workforce Snapshots, we have produced documents for several groups of nurses (see list below). We hope this level of granularity will be useful for stakeholders.  

Each Snapshot highlights key data on the actively practicing workforce, including their primary practice setting, specialties, and populations served. Each also offers insights into the geographic distribution of nurses across the state.

Indiana Nursing (RN and APRN) Workforce: Latest Data Report Released

Indiana Nursing (RN and APRN) Workforce: Latest Data Report Released

by | Apr 2, 2025 | Data, Reports

The latest Indiana Nursing (RN and APRN) Workforce Data Report offers a comprehensive overview of Indiana’s RNs and APRNs. It covers demographics, education, employment characteristics, and geographic distribution and provides important insights into the current state of Indiana’s nursing workforce to help inform policy and workforce planning. Read and download the full report below.

 

Exploring Indiana’s Physician Pipeline: How We Compare to Neighboring States

Exploring Indiana’s Physician Pipeline: How We Compare to Neighboring States

by | Feb 27, 2025 | Policy

You have seen our Indiana Medical Education Pipeline to Practice Report. Now you can take a deeper look into Indiana’s Physician Pipeline and how Indiana stacks up to our neighboring states with the Indiana Physician Pipeline-to-Practice: In Context brief. The medical education pipeline includes several steps before obtaining full medical licensure: 

  1. Undergraduate Medical Education: Also known as medical school, this phase follows an undergraduate degree and lasts four years. It includes basic medical training and clinical hands-on experience with patients. 
  2. Graduate Medical Education: This phase includes medical residency and fellowships. Residency is a structured series of clinical experiences preparing physicians to practice independently in their chosen specialty. Some physicians also complete additional fellowship training for 1-3 years.
  3. Practicing Physicians: These are fully licensed physicians who have completed all medical education requirements and can practice independently in their specialty. 

The Bowen Center, along with the Indiana Department of Health, evaluated Indiana’s physician pipeline in family medicine, obstetrics/gynecology, and pediatrics. The study compares Indiana’s physician pipeline to neighboring states and national averages to support workforce planning. 

Read and download the full brief below: 

 

Exploring Indiana’s Physician Pipeline: How We Compare to Neighboring States

Indiana Medical Education Pipeline to Practice Project Summary Published

by | Feb 18, 2025 | Data, Policy

Retention of medical students and residents is crucial to ensuring a strong physician workforce. This report examines retention within Indiana’s medical education pipeline between 2019 and 2024, challenges faced by residency program directors, trends in physician workforce capacity at Indiana hospitals, and existing initiatives supporting medical education and training in Indiana.

This work was completed in collaboration with the Indiana Department of Health. It is our hope that this report can inform discussions and policies targeting medical education in Indiana.

Read and download the project summary report below or find the full report here.

A Regulatory Review of APRN Oversight in Indiana

A Regulatory Review of APRN Oversight in Indiana

by | Feb 13, 2025 | Policy

As of 2023, there were 9,134 Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRN) reported to be practicing in Indiana. These APRNs include Nurse Practitioners (NP), Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNS), Certified Nurse Midwives (CNM), and Certified Nurse Anesthetists (CRNA). APRNs are required to be licensed as Registered Nurses (RN) and meet certain educational criteria to provide APRN-level services. CNMs are the only APRNs required to hold a separate, dedicated license in Indiana. Many Indiana APRNs (NP, CNS, CNM only) hold a prescriptive authority license. This license enables APRNs to prescribe medications and requires collaborative practice agreements with a licensed physician, dentist, podiatrist, or optometrist. Approximately 71% of Indiana APRNs hold prescriptive authority licenses, meaning about 29% of RNs who self-identify as APRNs hold no APRN-level license. 

In 2023, the Bowen Center conducted a fifty-state policy review of APRN licensing regulations and published the findings in a corresponding report. This policy review revealed that only Indiana and Wisconsin do not require APRN-level licensure for all practicing APRNs. Currently, Indiana has no formal process of tracking the number of APRNs, unless they are Certified Nurse Midwives, or hold prescriptive authority. Collection of data on APRNs is reliant on RNs self-reporting as APRNs. This leads to several potential challenges including the inability for individuals to easily verify credentials of APRN providers and lack of consistent and sufficiently granular data for workforce planning.  

Based on the national policy review, the Bowen Center identified 4 prevailing implementation approaches to APRN licensure. SB447 and HB1151 aim to create separate licenses for each advanced nursing role, which aligns with Approach #4 outlined in the figure below.  

Regardless of the approach, it’s important that APRNs do not face a complicated licensure process. Key consideration include: 

  • Ensuring reciprocity and portability of licenses 
  • Reducing administrative burdens for license holders and state agencies 
  • Minimizing additional licensure costs  

Professional regulation ensures quality service and public safety. The question to consider: Would an Indiana APRN license be helpful to protect public health and safety and support modernization of regulation, or are the current regulatory strategies sufficient? 

Check out the full report here: Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Licensing.