The North Carolina Foundation for Advanced Health Programs (NCFAHP) has published a guide  for states (pdf) interested in replicating the NC NOVA program.

NC NOVA, short for the North Carolina New Organizational Vision Award,  is a program that promotes workplace culture change by recognizing excellent direct-care employers.

About the Guide

A Guide for States Developing a Special Licensure Program Like NC NOVA: Key Steps and Stakeholder Processes (pdf) starts by describing NC NOVA and offering instructions for how to build its conceptual foundations. It then moves on to offer a step-by-step guide to developing, implementing, and maintaining such a program.

Topics include:

• How to engage and motivate core stakeholders, including officials from state agencies and health care associations
• How to create and empower a partner team
• Hot to staff the project and build consensus around a program model
• How to run a pilot program and then implement and sustain the full program on a statewide basis

The guide also offers a list of resources, including PowerPoint presentations and application-related materials from NC NOVA, as well as three appendices that provide a look into the actual nitty-gritty issues of proposing a project timeline, identifying major tasks and responsible parties, and communicating with applicants for the license.

In the introduction, NCFAHP expresses its hope that the guide will serve as “a ‘jump start’ for other states,” and that widespread implementation of its suggested workplace practices “will lead to improved retention through better jobs for employees and better care for clients and residents. If fully implemented, these criteria will change how organizations do business.”

“NC NOVA is true policy innovation,” said PHI National Policy Director Steve Edelstein. “It creates a comprehensive framework for employers to address direct-care job quality.

“The stakeholders of North Carolina deserve recognition for their vision in creating the NC NOVA program and for their willingness to share the benefit of their hard work with others.  I encourage any state looking to improve the quality and stability of their direct-care workforce to consider the NC NOVA approach. This new guide provides the perfect entry point.”

Background

NC NOVA took effect in North Carolina on January 1, 2007, after four years of development funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Atlantic Philanthropies through the national Better Jobs Better Care Program demonstration grant program.

PHI provided technical assistance to the state, helping them to develop criteria for determining whether providers demonstrated excellence as direct-care employers.

North Carolina issues NC NOVA as a voluntary license that is intended to raise the bar for recruitment and retention of direct-care staff. Providers must show that they provide employees with supportive workplaces, effective training, balanced workloads, and career development opportunities. The special licensure, by providing the stamp of approval from the state, then gives eldercare/disability services providers a marketing and recruitment advantage.