In September 2010,  Massachusetts was awarded a federal grant titled, Affordable Care Act: Personal and Home Care Aide State Training (PHCAST) Grant Program. The purpose of PHCAST is to define core competencies across direct-care workers, and to develop a training to serve as a base for further development of competency standardization.

Visit the PHCAST homepage at Mass.gov

The PHCAST Program aims to ensure that competent personal and home care aides have acquired skills that would be transportable to any job market in the nation, thus strengthening the direct-care workforce.

Massachusetts joins five other states in this endeavor: California, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, and Maine. Each state must implement core-training competencies, develop written materials, and protocols for training; including the development of a certification test for personal or home care aides who have completed the training.

PHI is working closely with the PHCAST partners to develop a core curriculum that can serve as foundational training for all direct-care workers in the state.

Visit PHI Curriculum and Workforce Development to learn more about PHI’s work to strengthen the direct-care workforce through projects focusing on recruitment, training, career ladder development, and other workplace supports to maximize staff retention.