Social Work Cross-Profession Minimum Data Set (SW CPMDS)

October 2025
Researcher: Veritas Health Solutions

Why Workforce Data Collection is a Regulatory Issue

The Social Work Cross-Profession Minimum Data Set (SW CPMDS) is a standardized set of core workforce questions designed to support consistent, comparable social work workforce data collection across states and social work initiatives.

A Roadmap for Enhancing State Health Workforce Data: Implementation Guide for the Cross-Profession Minimum Data Set

Authors

Veritas Health Solutions

H. Maxey

C. Medlock

The authors and sponsoring institution would like to acknowledge the following organization that provided guidance during the development of this roadmap: Association of Social Work Boards

Executive Summary

The Social Work Cross-Profession Minimum Data Set (SW CPMDS) is a standardized set of core workforce questions designed to support consistent, comparable social work workforce data collection across states and social work initiatives. Building on the national Cross-Profession Minimum Data Set (CPMDS) framework (developed and endorsed by leading healthcare regulatory associations), the SW CPMDS provides a ready-to-integrate tool to better understand and plan for the social work workforce. This tool has been crafted to accommodate any and all levels of social work, ensuring that data can be captured consistently across the breadth of the workforce: from entry-level practitioners to advanced clinical, academic, and policy roles.

Implementers are encouraged to administer the current questions as written to maintain consistency and comparability across jurisdictions. However, they may incorporate additional questions as needed to address state or project-specific objectives, always balancing the value of additional data collection with survey burden. The SW CPMDS was also intentionally structured to accommodate a range of survey implementation platforms, whether integrated directly into a basic electronic licensing system or administered through more sophisticated survey or workforce data platforms. Questions that are already collected through other means (such as an original license application or main licensing file) may be omitted to avoid redundancy.

Developed through the input and endorsement of the SW CPMDS Task Force, led and hosted by the Association of Social Work Boards and comprised of state workforce experts, regulatory boards, and professional stakeholders, the SW CPMDS serves as a practical, consensus-based standard for collecting the minimum necessary high-value information on the social work workforce in alignment with broader health workforce data initiatives.

Supplementary Resources

National Health Workforce Data Sources
Cross-Profession Minimum Data Set Tool with Supplemental Questions
CPMDS with FAQs
PT CPMDS
Health Affairs Article: Why We Can’t Count Our Doctors (And How To Fix It)
Making Data Work: Collecting better health care workforce data to inform state policy and planning

Browse Similar Research on HRRI.org

Workforce Issues