Regulatory boards are uniquely positioned to lead the collection of healthcare workforce data, and leveraging such data can improve public protection and healthcare planning. This article is based on a presentation at the 2025 Annual Education Meeting by Michelle Sigmund-Gaines, Missy Anthony, Jennifer Garrett, Jason Kaiser, and Nancy Kirsch.
The recent pandemic underscored the consequences of inadequate workforce data. Without reliable information, policymakers struggled to anticipate shortages, allocate resources, and respond effectively. We have major gaps in workforce knowledge. For example, we know more about ventilator inventory than about the inventory of healthcare workforce who can safely operate the ventilators.
Workforce data can address many issues:
Identify and address healthcare deserts.
Monitor vacancy rates and workforce distribution.
Expand and tailor education programs.
Develop bridging programs for professionals transitioning between roles.
Inform recruitment strategies targeting younger populations.
Support legislative efforts and resource allocation.
The need for accurate, comprehensive, and actionable workforce data has never been more urgent. Healthcare regulatory boards are uniquely positioned to lead the charge in collecting and leveraging this data to protect the public and shape the future of healthcare delivery.
State regulatory boards exist to protect the public. Their core mission is to ensure that healthcare professionals are qualified, competent, and practicing ethically. This responsibility places them in a distinctive position not only to collect workforce data for individual state decision making, but also to collaborate across states. By working together, boards can help create a comprehensive interstate database that informs critical labor force issues on a broader scale, enhancing public protection strategies and healthcare planning nationwide.
Licensing boards are the only entities that routinely interact with every healthcare licensee at two critical points: initial licensure and periodic renewal. These touchpoints provide an unparalleled opportunity to gather standardized workforce data. Unlike professional associations, which typically represent only a subset of practitioners, licensing boards have the authority to compel data collection from all licensed practitioners.
In advancing workforce data collection, it is important to recognize the foundation already established by FSBPT through its Examination, Licensure, and Disciplinary Database (ELDD). This resource provides an essential starting point by capturing basic metrics, such as the total number of licensed healthcare professionals nationwide. Nevertheless, to effectively tackle the complex and evolving challenges facing the healthcare workforce, data must go beyond these surface-level figures. Achieving the necessary depth and comprehensiveness will require active collaboration among all state licensing boards, ensuring data collection is both robust and relevant for informed decision-making and public protection.
The benefits of workforce data collection for regulatory boards are multifaceted:
Enhancing Public Protection: Accurate data helps boards ensure an adequate supply and distribution of healthcare professionals, preventing shortages or oversupply that could compromise patient care.
Fulfilling a Vital Role: In times of crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, stakeholders rely on boards for workforce insights. Collecting data positions boards as essential contributors to healthcare resilience.
Evidence-Based Decision Making: Data enables boards to support future workforce planning, educational program development, and policy formulation.
Potential of Offset Costs: New services based on data collection can open avenues for funding, grants, and partnerships that may offset costs.
Strengthening the Value Proposition: In an era where the value of licensing is under scrutiny, data collection reinforces the relevance and necessity of regulatory boards.
Additionally, legislators are trying to address critical workforce issues, such as burnout and healthcare deserts. Scaling back regulations often seems like a low-hanging solution to address these concerns but can come with great risks. If regulatory boards are not part of the solution to these problems, they may see important regulations removed. By becoming data collectors, they can ensure they are part of the discussion to find real solutions to these critical issues that do not sacrifice public safety.
While the benefits of data collection are manifold, many boards have historically not collected workforce data. Some boards may not equate workforce data with public protection, assumed other entities were already collecting it, lacked legislative authority, faced resource constraints, or feared privacy concerns. Additionally, inconsistent data collection and collection practices across states and professions has hindered meaningful aggregation.
To overcome these barriers, we collectively need to do the following:
Understand the Value/Relevance: Recognize how workforce data supports public protection and enhances board credibility.
Acknowledge Data Limitations: Accept the current gaps and work toward filling them.
Secure Legislative Authority: Pursue state-level changes to empower boards to collect data.
Develop a Cross-Professional Approach: Use tools like the Cross Profession Minimum Data Set (CPMDS) to standardize data collection.
Explore Sustainable Business Models: Collaborate with federations and stakeholders to fund data initiatives.
In April 2025, the Workforce Data Structural Approaches Task Force convened to evaluate seven potential strategies for helping boards collect data, specifically via the CPMDS.
State adoption through model language
Modification of existing licensure compacts' statutes
Ratification by licensure compact rules through Compact Commissions and authorities
New compact for health workforce data
National regulatory association guidance to state boards
Alignment of professional associations’ workforce profiles
Alignment of National Plan and Provider Enumeration System profiles
Their goal was to identify a solution that would support CPMDS adoption and enhance health workforce data collection across jurisdictions and professions.
After much consideration, they decided to suggest a Compact, for several reasons:
Standardization: A compact ensures consistent data collection across jurisdictions using the CPMDS framework.
Aggregation: It enables meaningful data aggregation across states and professions, providing a comprehensive view of the healthcare workforce.
State Control: Participation in the compact remains voluntary, preserving state autonomy.
Uniform Legislation: A model statute provides clear guidance and promotes legislative uniformity.
Compliance and Data Protection: The compact can include provisions for data security, reporting standards, and public-private partnerships.
State Empowerment: It offers a toolkit for states, empowering them to act without relying on federal solutions.
Trust and Familiarity: Compacts are known and trusted by state policymakers, making them a viable and effective vehicle for change.
The compact model also allows states to define priority professions, making it adaptable and inclusive. It supports an interprofessional strategy, leveraging strength in numbers to address shared challenges, and can fit well into any jurisdiction, whether a stand-alone board or umbrella agency.
The success of a workforce data compact depends on champions within each jurisdiction. Members and staff of member boards can help move this big initiative forward by doing the following tasks:
Initiate Discussions: Start conversations with your board about workforce data collection.
Explore Barriers: Identify legislative, technical, and resource challenges in your state.
Use Available Resources: Leverage tools from HRRI.org, including the CPMDS Implementation Guide and customizable templates.
Collaborate Across Professions: Engage other healthcare licensing boards to build a unified approach.
Promote the CPMDS: Advocate for the adoption of the standardized question set.
Educate Stakeholders: Highlight the public protection value of workforce data to legislators, academic institutions, and professional associations.
This African proverb, “If you want to go fast—go alone. If you want to go far—go together,” encapsulates the spirit of collaboration needed to make the compact a reality.
The path to comprehensive workforce data collection is clear. Regulatory boards should embrace their unique position and authority to lead this effort. By adopting a compact, we can standardize data collection, aggregate meaningful insights, and enhance our value to stakeholders. Better data leads to better decisions—and better outcomes for the public.
Let us move forward together, united in our mission to protect the public. Be a champion in your jurisdiction. Start the conversation. Explore the barriers. Use the tools. And most importantly, believe in the power of data to solve some of the most pressing challenges to public protection.
Michelle Sigmund-Gaines
Michelle Sigmund-Gaines became the Executive Director for the Oregon Board of Physical Therapy in 2017 and has held leadership roles in healthcare regulation in Oregon since 2008. Michelle has over thirty years of experience in organizational governance, information technology management, instructional design, and has a passion for public service and education. Michelle has been volunteering with FSBPT since 2018 and has served in multiple roles, including as a member of the Education and Ethics & Legislation Committees, the Board Assessment Task Force, and as a member and Chair of the Council of Board Administrators (CBA). Michelle received the FSBPT Outstanding Service Award in 2020 and the President’s Award in 2021.
Missy Anthony
Missy Anthony has served as the 8th Executive Director of the Ohio Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, and Athletic Trainers Board since November 2017. Prior to her service with the Board, Missy worked for the Ohio House of Representatives, Ohio Governor John Kasich, as Deputy Director of the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, and lobbied on behalf of individuals with developmental disabilities. A native of Akron, Ohio, she graduated from the University of Akron with a degree in political science and certificate in applied politics from the Ray C. Bliss Institute. She received her master’s degree in public administration from Ohio University. She is also a graduate of the JoAnn Davidson Leadership Institute.
Jennifer Garrett
Jennifer Garrett is the Deputy Secretary at the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services. As gubernatorial political appointee, she oversees external relations and policy development and works to implement regulatory innovations to advance executive branch priorities. Under her leadership, DSPS has implemented voluntary surveys for physician and dental renewals and recently used the National Cross-Profession Minimum Data Set survey for key behavioral health professions. Prior to joining Governor Tony Evers’ administration, Jennifer worked in public affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Nursing. She has a bachelor’s degree in English and communication from Purdue University, and a JD from the Maurer School of Law.
Jason Kaiser
Jason Kaiser Jason Kaiser has served the Physical Therapy Board of California (PTBC) since 2009 in a number of capacities, including Manager of the Applications and Licensing Services Unit and Manager of the Consumer Protection Services Unit. In 2012, Jason was appointed as the Executive Officer of the PTBC.
Nancy Kirsch
Nancy R. Kirsch, PT, DPT, PhD, FAPTA received her PT degree from Temple University, her Masters in Health Education from Montclair University, Certificate in Health Administration from Seton Hall University, her PhD concentration in ethics from Rutgers University (formerly UMDNJ), and a Doctor of Physical Therapy from MGH Institute of Health Professions. She practiced in a variety of settings including in-patient rehabilitation, acute care, long term care, and home care. She owned a private practice for twenty years and currently practices in a school based setting. In addition, she is the Director of the Doctor of Physical Therapy Program at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Nancy has been a member of the New Jersey Board of Physical Therapy Examiners since 1990 and was chairperson of the board for twelve years. She served as an evaluator for FCCPT. Nancy has been involved with the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy in the following capacities: she served two terms on the Finance committee and also served on several task forces, in addition to the Board of Directors. Nancy has been active in the American Physical Therapy Association since she was a student. She served the New Jersey Chapter as Secretary and President, and as a delegate and chief delegate to the House of Delegates. She served the national association as a member of the ethics document revision task force. She also served a five year term on the APTA Ethics and Judicial Committee and the APTA Reference Committee. She received the Lucy Blair Service Award and was elected a Catherine Worthingham Fellow from National APTA and received an Outstanding Service Award and the President's Award from the FSBPT.