Wages Adjusted for Inflation: Over the past decade, inflation-adjusted median hourly wages for Nursing Aides, Orderlies, and Attendants in Illinois increased by 15 percent, from $7.99 to $9.17. Real wages for Personal Care Aides increased by only 9 percent while those for Home Health Aides declined by nearly 10 percent.
Employer-Sponsored Insurance: Compared to the national civilian workforce, fewer of Illinois’s direct-care workers have access to and use employer-sponsored insurance. Some work for employers that do not offer health insurance. Others work for employers that limit eligibility for health insurance to full-time employees. This creates a barrier for many direct-care workers, especially those in home and community-based settings, who often work only part-time due to the episodic nature of direct-care work. Even workers who do have access to insurance from their employer may find the co-pays and premiums unaffordable.
SB 3590: This bill requires Illinois to develop a system for ensuring that home care aides and personal assistants receive wage increases when the federal minimum wage increases. It also requires vendors to certify that they are paying aides according to federal minimum wage law. (Adopted July 20, 2010)
SB 3291: This bill amends the Illinois Act on Aging to provide that a vendor of home care aide services or personal assistant services is entitled to a rate increase of $1.32 per hour if (i) the vendor uses at least $0.70 of that increase to increase the wages of home care aides and personal assistants and (ii) the vendor uses an additional $0.13 of that increase for health insurance assistance for home care aides and personal assistants. (Adopted July 20, 2010)
IL Administrative Code (Title 89, Chapter IV, Sections 240.2020-2050 and 686.270): A provider agency delivering services under the Home Services and Community Care Programs is required to expend a minimum of 73 percent and 77 percent, respectively, of the total revenues due from either the Department of Human Services or the Department for allowable direct service worker costs. Cost reporting is required. Direct service worker costs include wages, health coverage, employee-related taxes, and other items.
Advocates for Access Center for Independent Living: This regional Center for Independent Living provides a free internet-based matching service registry for consumers looking to be connected with independent providers.
Illinois Direct Support Professional Workforce Initiative: The Illinois Council on Developmental Disabilities has funded a three-year workforce systems change initiative to improve recruitment and retention of direct support professionals (DSPs) in Illinois. The project will assist 15 community human service employers (14 organizations, and 10 individual/family employers) of DSPs to find and keep high quality employees. In return, employers have agreed to recommend interested employees, contribute their time, share their expertise, implement changes, and provide feedback on how to make these changes work best across Illinois.
Providence Life Services: Providence Life Services employs a Director of Certified Nursing Assistants (DCNA) in four of its skilled long-term nursing care facilities. The DCNA is tasked with supervising the facility’s CNA staff, coordinating their care efforts, and modeling good care practices and interpersonal skills.
PHI State Facts: Illinois’s Direct Care Workforce (pdf): This fact sheet, issued by PHI in July 2009, gives an overview of the direct-care workforce in Illinois.
Quality Support 2005: An Agenda to Strengthen the Developmental Disabilities Direct Support Professional Workforce in Illinois: The Illinois Direct Support Professional Workforce Initiative created a comprehensive plan to address direct support professional issues in the state. The report was issued in 2005.
A New Commitment to Quality Care (pdf): This 2007 report by the Services Employment International Union, Local 4, examines the state of care provided in Illinois nursing homes and the role of low caregiver compensation in quality of care and staff turnover.