Health Practitioner Regulation Systems

Overview

Health systems worldwide face considerable challenges in recruiting, training, distributing and retaining a sufficiently skilled and competent workforce when and where it is needed. Brought into sharp focus by the COVID-19 pandemic, these challenges are compounded by myriad changes to health systems and workforces – increasing volume and privatization of health practitioner education; accelerating health workforce international mobility and cross-border service delivery; more team-based models of care; and the growing importance of unregulated health workers, such as in community support and traditional and complementary medicine (T&CM).

In response to these complex demands, some governments have reformed health practitioner regulation systems to better serve the public interest. Strengthening the way health practitioners are regulated can help to assure the safety and effectiveness of the health workforce and foster the flexibility and innovation needed to better meet population needs. There is increasing recognition that health practitioner regulation systems have an essential role to play in supporting health workforce availability, accessibility, acceptability, quality, and sustainability that is fundamental to achieving Universal Health Coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals. Health practitioner regulation can optimize the capability of the existing health workforce and assist in better aligning health workforce investments with health system needs.

This large-scale rapid review examines the diversity of regulatory principles, elements, and approaches to developing, implementing, and strengthening HPR. The aim is to identify the evidence base around HPR design and delivery, to help governments, regulators and other stakeholders better achieve health workforce and health system goals. The World Health Organization (WHO) commissioned this review to assist in the preparation of new global guidance on health practitioner regulation.