La. Admin. Code tit. 48 § I-11909

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 9, September 20, 2024

Section I-11909 - Allied Health Professionals

A. The Health Manpower Training Act of 1972 defined allied health professions in the following manner: "Allied health professions are those with training and responsibilities for supporting and complementing or supplementing the professional functions of physicians, dentists and other health professionals in the delivery of health care to patients; or, assisting environmental engineers and other personnel in environmental health control and preventive medicine activities."

B. 1978 Board of Regents Study

1. A study released by the Louisiana Board of Regents in 1978 included the areas of Dental Hygiene, Occupational Therapy, Medical Records Administration, Health and Hospital Administration, Physical Therapy, Medical Technology, Cytotechnology, Dietetics, Radiologic Technology and Respiratory Care Technology within the allied health field. The Louisiana Office of Licensing and Regulation has also included Pharmacy and Social Work within this field for classification purposes.

2. In the Louisiana Board of Regents' 1978 study, Louisiana was reported to have no serious shortages in the area of allied health professionals. The study indicated that although some small rural hospitals and state hospitals did have problems in recruiting personnel, these were mainly due to conditions within the institutions (e.g. low pay, location, etc.) rather than a shortage of manpower supply. A spokesman for the Board of Regents provided a verbal update to this report in March, 1982, and suggested that the satisfactory rating in terms of allied health manpower supply in Louisiana may be reversing itself. Particularly in the areas of medical technology and physical therapy, the state appears now to be experiencing serious manpower shortages.

3. There is very little hard data available on which to base an analysis of allied health manpower resources. In 1978 the Louisiana Board of Regents recommended that the state maintain a registry of allied health personnel in order to build an adequate data base for manpower planning purposes. A spokesman for the Board of Regents reports that this has not yet been done. Any accurate assessment of allied health manpower in the state will be impossible until this data base is developed.

C. Resource Goals

1. Until statistical data becomes available, analysis or planning for the manpower supply in allied health cannot be accurate. The state may now be in the early stages of experiencing serious shortages of allied health professionals. It is recommended that the state begin registration of its allied health professionals so that a data base can be built and appropriate recruitment and training initiatives taken to maintain an adequate supply of allied health manpower. Available indicators of manpower supply need to be analyzed, however, so that preliminary projections can be made of need and supply of allied health professionals.

La. Admin. Code tit. 48, § I-11909

Promulgated by the Department of Health and Human Resources, Office of Management and Finance, LR 13:246 (April 1987).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with P.L. 93-641 as amended by P. L. 96-79, and R.S. 36:256(b).