The Bowen Center for Health Workforce Research & Policy at the IU School of Medicine, Department of Family Medicine, is engaged in research to inform health policy, improve health care delivery and promote population health. A large portion of Bowen Center’s current research focuses on the health workforce and the influence of various health care delivery models on access to care. They needed a more timely and automated means of providing reliable information about Indiana’s health workforce to help stakeholders answer fundamental questions about the distribution and relative supply and demand of the workforce.  It is easier to understand these place-based questions when they are viewed geographically.

The Polis Center, in partnership with Bowen and the IU School of Medicine Department of Biostatistics, developed an online information sharing and mapping platform for Bowen that allows users the flexibility of accessing their information offsite and readily discover, map, and share health workforce data, including data about Indiana’s workforce supply and distribution, shortages, and education pipeline. These processes and tools enable Bowen staff to take the primary role in developing the map content to be presented within their portal.

Polis subsequently developed a Report Generator tool for the Bowen Portal.  The Report Generation feature allows users to create customized one-page reports about Indiana’s health workforce.

To learn more, contact Karen Comer.