Advocates for people with disabilities have made consumer-directed personal assistance services a priority, but CD-PAS are not for everyone. And a big part of the reason is the difficulty many consumers have in finding the workers they need, according to a new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation.
“CD-PAS participants face challenges recruiting direct care workers because they lack the infrastructure and economy of scale that agencies use to recruit workers,” says Consumer Direction of Personal Assistance Services in Medicaid: A review of four state programs. Authors Henry Claypool and Molly O’Malley also note that it is often difficult for consumers to arrange back-up service on short notice when needed.
“As CD-PAS programs grow, states and beneficiaries will face challenges in maintaining a steady work force of care workers for these programs and enhancing the programs’ quality and support structure,” they write. Before starting or augmenting a Medicaid-funded CD-PAS program, they recommend that states study and understand “the issues that affect direct care workers, such as wages and benefits.”
Elise Nakhnikian, Senior Online Editor
enakhnikian@phinational.org
I’ve been preaching this to the choir for years. There cannot be a successful Consumer Driven program without an adequate infrastructure in place. And that means qualified, caregivers or direct care workers that you can train and retain. With the low pay and no benefits there is no incentive for persons to remain in this much needed field. Training and a drastic increase in pay with benefits still may be offering too little too late. I certainly hope I’m wrong.
Keith-