As Congress works to merge the competing health care bills, long-term care stakeholders should be paying attention not only to the highly debated issues such as a public option, but to the differing provisions on direct-care worker investments and long-term care financing improvements.

“While long-term care and the direct-care workforce are not the central focus of health reform, these bills’ direct-care workforce provisions would go a long way to improve training and workforce information,” said Carol Regan, PHI government affairs director. “These provisions lay the ground work for future policy advances.”

PHI has prepared a side-by-side chart (pdf) to help readers compare provisions of the House Bill, the Senate Finance Bill, and the HELP committee bill.

Key direct-care provisions to watch for in the merged bills include training and training-demonstration grants; workforce data collection and planning; and new and expanded efforts to fund long-term care services.

“Ultimately it may well be the CLASS Act, the funding increase for HCBS, and the coordinated care delivery model research that have the greatest impact on improving direct-care jobs,” said Steve Edelstein, PHI national policy director.

“The long-term care financing provisions will bring much needed financial support into a resource-starved system,” Edelstein said. “When combined with the new models of care research, which holds the promise of meaningful opportunities for advancement, these provisions would lead to a better job and a living wage for these workers.”