A second study, directed by Dr. Donald E. Pathman, associate professor of family medicine at the UNC School of Medicine, will concentrate on patients' experiences with health care.

"Dr. Pathman and colleagues will examine how people's use of outpatient services, their perceptions of access and barriers to care, their satisfaction with care and the quality of care they receive varies with the number of local physicians," Zaenger said.

Another project will investigate whether National Health Service Corps dental alumni are more likely than comparable dentists to continue to work in "safety net" settings and to treat Medicaid patients after completing their service obligations, he said. Dr. Thomas "Bob" Konrad of the Sheps Center will be principal investigator.

In a fourth project, Ricketts and colleagues will offer technical assistance to Southeastern states to develop primary-care service areas. They also will help interpret and apply revisions to rules that govern federal designations of medically under-served areas and work to support assessments of, and the supply of, allied health personnel.

Ricketts's team also will work to develop reliable and informative measures of the impact Health Resources and Services Administration programs and projects have.

With the award, the Sheps Center becomes the sixth health workforce studies group in the United States, Zaenger said.

Similar facilities are located at the universities of California at San Francisco, Illinois at Chicago, New York at Albany, Texas at San Antonio and Washington at Seattle. Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee will comprise the new center's Southeast region.

For more information about the Southeast Regional Center for Health Workforce St
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Contact: David Williamson
919-966-5541
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
9-Mar-2004