Puerto Rico joins public health survey focused on island jurisdictions
The Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey Islands Pilot has extended invitations to more than 8,000 public health agency employees to participate.
For the first time, public health workers in Puerto Rico can make their voices heard through an expansion of the Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey (PH WINS).
More than 8,000 public health agency employees across U.S. territories and free-associated states have been invited to participate in the PH WINS Islands Pilot. Previously, PH WINS was available only to state and local health departments in the 50 states.
Participating agencies will receive a version of the survey that has been amended slightly from PH WINS 2024 to reflect their unique contexts and include expanded response options, most notably in the demographics section. The survey will also be available for the first time in Spanish for employees in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Conducted by the de Beaumont Foundation and the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), PH WINS is the only nationally representative source of data about the governmental public health workforce. It collects data on the demographics of the workforce and captures individual public health workers’ perspectives on key issues such as public health concerns, training needs, and workforce engagement and morale.
Participating in the PH WINS Islands Pilot are the U.S. territories — Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands — and the freely associated states — Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of Palau, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
The PH WINS Islands Pilot will be administered this month. Participating agencies will receive a version of PH WINS that has been amended slightly from PH WINS 2024 to reflect their unique contexts. Findings from the 2024 survey will be released in summer 2025.
The survey will provide health departments with actionable data to address these problems, de Beaumont reported. Survey results typically are used to create workforce development plans and training (including accreditation documentation for the Public Health Accreditation Board), support island-centric solutions, compare department workforce statistics to national benchmarks, increase employee engagement and help national organizations advocate for resources.
Island jurisdictions face unique challenges
Island jurisdiction health departments face unique challenges in sustaining their workforce, such as geographic isolation, which limits access to talent, low salary offerings compared to U.S. mainland areas, and underdeveloped academic pathways specifically designed for island health care needs, making it difficult to attract and retain qualified health care professionals.
These limitations can have a significant impact on health care delivery, including chronic staffing shortages, reduced access to health care (especially in remote areas) and high employee turnover rates. As potential solutions, ASTHO, the National Institutes of Health, National Network of Public Health Institutions and World Health Organization recommend incentive programs, telehealth, training initiatives and community engagement programs.
Governor’s vision for Puerto Rico health care
On Friday, during a forum on health care innovation and solutions organized by the Puerto Rico Manufacturers Association, Puerto Rico Gov. Jenniffer González-Colón outlined several initiatives meant to make the island’s health care system more accessible and modern.
The governor’s vision for transforming the health care system focuses on financing, professional development and system evolution. González-Colón said she appointed Víctor Ramos as Health Department secretary because he shares her vision, authored the government’s health program, has leadership experience, has received support from multiple sector organizations and already is implementing actions within the agency.
González-Colón pointed out that her administration prevented the closure of the emergency room at the Metropolitan Hospital of the Mountain in Utuado, ensured the continuity of emergency services at the Metropolitan Hospital in Cabo Rojo and responded promptly to the avian flu outbreak.
While the talent shortage in the island’s health care system remains a critical issue, measures are being taken to strengthen professional training, notably the new neurosurgery program at the University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus, she said.
Half of Puerto Rico’s population relies on the Medicaid-funded Health Card (Tarjeta de Salud). González-Colón is asking the new Trump administration to establish a national minimum (floor) for Medicare Advantage rates, after the Biden administration rejected the recommendations. In 2023, the base payment for Medicare Advantage in Puerto Rico was $644 per beneficiary per month, compared to $1,099 in the rest of the U.S. mainland.
