We all know that improving wages and benefits for direct-care workers would benefit not only the workers and their families but also the consumers who depend on them – not to mention the employers who often struggle to recruit and retain them. But who knew it could also be good for the insurance business?

In a page on its website that helps make the case for buying long-term care insurance, Genworth Financial notes: “In 2008 the average annual rate for a private nursing home room is $76,460 – up 17% since 2004. The demand and costs for in-home care are on the rise. And, we face an impending caregiver shortage that could drive costs even higher.”

The page is linked to a document outlining the impending care gap. (pdf) “This gap has the potential to negatively impact Americans and the American health care system in two ways: the costs of health care may rise significantly as the workforce supply diminishes, and the quality and availability of care may decrease, placing added pressures on family members and friends to care for loved ones who may require long term care,” it says.

Genworth sells long-term care insurance and other financial products.

Elise Nakhnikian, Senior Online Editor
enakhnikian@phinational.org

“More and more LTC leaders are changing their workplace practices, de-institutionalizing their physical environments, and embracing person-directed care in order to get to the next level in terms of quality,” says the August cover story for Provider magazine. The article explores this phenomenon, looking at why there is “a general consensus that it is more than just the ‘right’ thing to do.”

For “Investing in Culture,” (pdf) the magazine interviewed 14 long-term care leaders, including Anna Ortigara, President and CEO David Horazdovsky of the Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society, and Barbara Frank, cofounder of B&F Consulting.

The experts talk about how improving direct-care jobs improves care quality in long-term care – and vice versa. Horazdovsky says his organization has experienced “decreased staff turnover, highly developed direct care staff skills, and increased staff satisfaction on surveys” as a result of its move to person-centered care.

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PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release

Honor Direct-Care Workers with Raises as well as Roses

PHI releases data on personal and home care aide wages in 50 states

Bronx, NY, September 8, 2008— Bronx, NY—In honor of the invaluable work that America’s caregivers engage in everyday, Congress has declared September 8-12, 2008, Direct Support Professional Recognition Week. Employers are urged to throw parties and offer awards to their staff, who dress, feed, toilet, and support in myriad other ways millions of American elders and people with disabilities. But these workers need more than roses: the backbone of America’s long-term care system, direct-care workers earn such low wages that many cannot escape poverty.

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Getting real about retention

This is the fourth in a series of PHI Expert Interviews, which bring you insights from four senior PHI staff. They’re an impressive group — among the nation’s leading experts on long-term care’s direct-care workforce — and collectively they’ve spent decades studying the challenges facing the workforce and how to address them. We think you’ll be interested in what they’ve learned.

When Steven Dawson came out of the workforce development field in 1992 to join Peggy Powell in heading up the Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute, PHI’s sole purpose was to raise funds and provide technical support for Cooperative Home Care Associates. Over time, Steven led PHI into the broader long-term care arena, where its policy and practice experts work with employers and lawmakers to support and stabilize the nation’s direct-care workforce.

Steven has written about the impending direct-care workforce crisis (pdf) and the link between quality jobs for direct-care workers and quality care for long-term care consumers. Through the years, his emphasis has been on creating workplaces that are intentionally re-designed to retain direct-care staff.

“A constantly churning workforce is the enemy of quality care — ask anyone whose mother has had to deal with five different home health aides within a month, or with a blur of CNAs in the nursing home. The industry still manages to attract hundreds of thousands of skilled, caring workers every year, but once hired, these frontline staff are too often treated as if they were invisible. So, of course they leave,” he says. Continue Reading

Details and registration information

PHI’s Health Care for Health Care Workers (HCHCW) campaign invites direct-care workers and their allies in Pennsylvania to a conference on October 3. Conference registration is open through September 19. Exhibitor registrations will be accepted through September 12 or until exhibit space is sold out.

Empowering Our Future will bring together an emerging network of workers, worker-advocates, and others concerned about the future of long-term care in Pennsylvania. Workshops and activities for personal care attendants, nursing assistants, and other direct-care workers will cover a range of topics, including:

• Working with clients with dementia;
• Resolving conflicts;
• Managing your personal finances; and
• Communicating effectively with policymakers

“The conference is a rare opportunity to develop leadership skills, become an effective advocate for change in long-term care settings, and discuss the issues confronting the long-term care system with your peers,” says Tracy Lawless, Pennsylvania State Campaign Coordinator for HCHCW.

It also gives organizations that support or employ direct-care workers a chance to reach them through exhibiting or advertising in the brochure.

Elise Nakhnikian, Senior Online Editor
enakhnikian@phinational.org

The final report’s executive summary
A research brief outlining the study’s findings (pdf)
The implementation manual (pdf)

Home health agencies that want to improve staff retention and client outcomes will find some unexpected results and useful lessons in a report recently posted to the US HHS/ASPE Office of Disability, Aging and Long-Term Care Policy website.

Home Health Aide (HHA) Partnering Collaborative Evaluation: Final Report (pdf) assesses the impact of an effort to truly incorporate home health aides into care teams. The initiative was implemented in 2003 by the Visiting Nurse Service of New York (VNSNY) and several of its licensed agency partners.

“It’s working because the aides feel more involved in the team, and they appreciate that,” says Daisy Diaz, supervising coordinator for Cooperative Home Care Associates (CHCA), one of the participating agencies. “They work hard, and it’s good for them to get acknowledged.”

It’s also good for the agency and its clients to get more regular and immediate input from the aides, Diaz adds. “They call us right away now to let us know about any issues with the patients. They also call the nurse.” Continue Reading