Direct Care Workforce

The ROI calculator allows states to analyze the economic & social impact of additional investment in the wages of direct-care staff working in their personal care services programs. Designed to incorporate a wide range of factors--including the size of a proposed wage increase, staff turnover costs and retention rates, and issues related to implementation design--the calculator provides state policymakers with an easy-to-use tool for identifying the real costs and benefits of a wage increase.

On Tuesday, September 28, 2004, Susan Flanagan presented her recent report: Accessing Workers' Compensation Insurance For Consumer-Employed PAS Workers. This study focused on workers’ compensation (WC) laws and systems as they pertain to domestic service workers, and in particular, personal assistance workers, in 50 states, the District of Columbia, five U.S. territories and the tribal government of the Navajo Nation.

The purpose of this report is to share identified best practices for recruitment & retention of nursing & nursing assistive personnel as identified by local experts. From Oct ‘02-July ‘04, the Center for Health Workforce Planning in the Bureau of Health Care Access, Iowa Department of Public Health, funded 7 demonstration projects with the intent of identifying successful strategies. This report provides a summary of the goals, strategies, challenges & contact information for each project.

These two papers outline ways governors can support caregivers who assist people who need in-home services. State Support, lists strategies to help both kinds of caregivers as they restructure their LTC systems. A Lifetime of Health & Dignity recommends that officials inform home care workers about their eligibility for the Earned Income Tax Credit, assist in the development of employer health insurance purchasing pools, & connect low-wage workers to support systems.

A briefing paper prepared as part of the National Evaluation of the Implementation of WIA, Serving the Homeless explores the extent to which persons who experience homelessness can be effectively served within the One-Stop context, and through what specific and unique means and strategies.

This report was prepared for the Iowa legislature and recommends that the state increase Medicare and Medicaid payments in order to increase pay. It also recommends raising public awareness of worker shortages and their impact, creating mentoring programs to prevent turnover/increase retention, and other strategies to strengthen the health and long-term care workforce.

More than 30 of the 101 Systems Change Grants that began in FY 2001 or FY 2002 have activities to improve the recruitment, retention, or quality of the direct service workforce. RTI International conducted phone interviews with the 20 FY 2001 grantees with workforce activities and conducted site visits with 7 of them to document their initiatives. This teleconference presentation will address a policy framework that identifies initiatives that appear promising to states.

The number of people needing LTC is expected to increase much faster caregivers after 2015, putting substantial pressure on families, providers & Medicaid. We must start working towards improving efficiency & effectiveness of care delivery. This brief explains that recruiting & retaining direct-care workers requires improving the job, by means such as changing the culture surrounding the work environment as well as changing the duties, responsibilities, supervisory structure & increasing wages.

This report focuses on workers’ compensation laws and systems as they pertain to domestic service workers. Workers’ compensation laws and regulations are reviewed, as well as promising practices in the states. Tables can be downloaded as one document or individually by topic.

The Community Partnerships for Older Adults fosters community partnerships to improve long term care and supportive service systems to meet the current and future needs of older adults. This Robert Wood Johnson Foundation program website features a resource center, which showcases the issues involved with creating, maintaining and sustaining a community partnership. Under the section on inclusion and diversity, you can find several resources on developing a culturally competent workforce.