Cross-Profession Minimum Data Set (CPMDS)
An Opportunity to Enhance Health Workforce Data
The Cross-Profession Minimum Data Set (CPMDS) is a nationally developed framework designed to improve the consistency, quality, and comparability of health workforce data. Serving as a foundation for both single-profession and multi-profession workforce planning, the CPMDS supports better policy decisions, workforce forecasting, and regulatory alignment. Access the most recent tools below to begin implementing the CPMDS in your state or profession.
Updated April 2026 (Original: August 2023)
Researcher: Veritas Health SolutionsWhy Workforce Data Collection is a Regulatory Issue
The Cross-Profession Minimum Data Set (CPMDS) establishes a standardized set of core data elements that states, regulatory bodies, and professional associations can collect from licensed health professionals. Developed collaboratively across multiple national regulatory organizations, the CPMDS ensures that essential workforce information is aligned across professions and can be used reliably for program evaluation, workforce modeling, and strategic planning.
While designed to support multi-profession comparisons, the CPMDS also offers substantial benefits for single-profession use. Even when only one profession implements the CPMDS, the resulting data provides improved clarity on workforce demographics, distribution, employment patterns, practice settings, and future plans, strengthening the ability to identify shortages, forecast needs, and justify funding or policy changes.
A Roadmap for Enhancing State Health Workforce Data: Implementation Guide for the Cross-Profession Minimum Data Set
2026 CPMDS Updates
The 2026 update to the CPMDS incorporates several enhancements to strengthen comparability with national datasets and improve survey usability. Key updates include:
Race/Ethnicity Alignment: The CPMDS now reflects the 2024 guidance released by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, combining race and ethnicity into a single question and adding a new category: Middle Eastern or North African.
Implementation Notes: Additional notes have been added to guide states and professions in customizing flexible-response fields while preserving standardization across core data elements.
Profession-Specific CPMDS Tools
Since publication of the original CPMDS, two professions have developed customized CPMDS versions reflecting their unique practice characteristics. These tools retain the CPMDS core framework while incorporating profession-specific response options. Links to each version are available below for adoption by jurisdictions.
Physical Therapy CPMDS – Endorsed by the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy and recommended for use by physical therapy regulators.
Social Work CPMDS – Endorsed by the Association of Social Work Boards and recommended for use by social work regulators.
Supplemental Resources
In addition to the CPMDS itself, several supplemental materials support implementation and workforce planning efforts:
CPMDS Roadmap and Implementation Tools
A collection of planning resources originally published with the CPMDS to support jurisdictions in designing, launching, and refining workforce data collection strategies.
Tool A: Understanding Your State Licensing Data
Helps states assess their current data structure, completeness, and collection points.
Tool B: State Occupational Regulation & Administrative Resources
Summarizes regulatory authority, data governance considerations, and administrative decision points.
Tool C: Professions, Authority, & Action
Supports mapping which entities have the authority to act on workforce data within each profession.
Tool D: State Health Workforce Data Needs
Provides a structured approach to identifying priority workforce questions and aligning data to answer them.
Tool E: Stakeholder Inventory
Helps identify and organize key stakeholders to support implementation and ongoing use of CPMDS data.
CPMDS Reference Materials
Additional tools that support understanding and applying CPMDS concepts.
CPMDS with FAQs
A consolidated version of the tool with common implementation questions and answers.
National Health Workforce Data Sources
A curated list of external data sources that complement or contextualize CPMDS‑collected information.
Making Data Work: Collecting better health care workforce data to inform state policy and planning
A resource summarizing best practices and lessons learned from states.
Health Affairs Article: Why We Can’t Count Our Doctors (And How To Fix It)
An explainer on data limitations and the need for standardized workforce information.
Audience-Specific Informational Briefs
Short, targeted summaries to support communication about the CPMDS with key stakeholder groups. Each brief tailors the value proposition of CPMDS-aligned data to the priorities of the audience.
State Legislatures
State Primary Care Offices
State Regulators
Professional Associations
Employer and Trade Associations
Authors
H. Maxey
C. Medlock
The authors and sponsoring institution would like to acknowledge the following organizations that provided guidance during the development of the CPMDS and associated roadmap: Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy, Association of Social Work Boards, Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards, National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy, Inc., and National Council of State Boards of Nursing.
Executive Summary
Making the Case for Health Workforce Data
Access to health workforce data is essential to inform various aspects of policy and programs, such as identifying health workforce shortage areas, planning for educational programs or regulatory policy changes, forecasting employment demands, and justifying funding requests. Detailed information about the health workforce is necessary to evaluate existing programs and to plan for future needs.
Health workforce policy and planning cannot be done in a silo. The health workforce includes an array of professions, differing in training, focus and scope. Some contributions are unique, others overlap, many are synergistic. Regardless of differences or similarities, all health professions share a common mission to contribute to the health of the people and communities they serve. When the contributions of different health professions are coordinated and synergies in care achieved, patient outcomes can be improved. Consistent workforce data across health professions is needed to inform policy and planning.
What has been Done and Where are the Gaps?
Health workforce data collection has been a national priority for decades. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), in collaboration with national organizations, established minimum data set survey tools for several health professions in 2013. Great care was taken to develop surveys that met the data needs of each respective profession, but unfortunately, coordination between professions to ensure alignment across surveys for data elements common to all professions did not occur. Inconsistencies in data collection strategies (questions and response options) for data elements such as demographics threaten cross profession comparison and analysis.
A Call to Action
In the face of pervasive workforce shortages, health workforce data collection has emerged as a top national and state priority. Now, more than ever before, a Cross-Profession Minimum Data Set (CPMDS) is needed to ensure consistency, where appropriate, in health workforce data. In 2022, seven national organizations came together to review existing survey tools and prepare the CPMDS to serve as a resource to the federal and state governments, organizations, and researchers seeking to collect health workforce data. Broad adoption of the CPMDS will streamline current and support future initiatives by ensuring comparability across health professions data.
About the CPMDS
The CPMDS is a set of core questions for collecting data elements widely considered the “minimum necessary” for health workforce planning. The intent of the CPMDS is to serve as a framework for standardizing data collection across various health professions for the purpose of supporting within and between profession comparisons and analyses. As a framework, the CPMDS questions have been designed with varying levels of standardization. For example, the CPMDS provides standardized questions and response options for data elements that are consistent across the professions (example: demographics) but includes flexible questions and response options for data elements requiring customizations (example: specialty and setting). The CPMDS provides a framework upon which individual profession-specific tools can be developed.
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