Wages Adjusted for Inflation: Over the past decade, inflation-adjusted median hourly wages for Nursing Aides, Orderlies, and Attendants in New York increased by 8 percent, from $10.92 to $11.77. Real wages for Personal Care Aides increased by only 5 percent while those for Home Health Aides remained virtually unchanged.
Employer-Sponsored Insurance: Compared to the national civilian workforce, fewer of New York’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.
Medicaid HCBS Reform: The New York State Budget for 2011-2012, passed on March 31, 2011, includes major reforms to the way New York pays for and delivers Medicaid services, particularly in home- and community-based settings. The legislation included wage parity for Home Health Aides, effectively increasing their wages by $2/hour, and a transition of many community-based long-term care recipients into capitated care management models.
AIM Independent Living Center – Personal Assistants Finder’s Help Page: This regional Center for Independent Living provides a free internet-based matching service registry for consumers seeking referrals to independent providers available for employment.
Home Health Aide Training Program (HHATP) Workgroup: The New York Department of Health (DOH) created the HHATP Workgroup to help ensure quality training, testing, and oversight of the New York’s home health aide training programs. The workgroup’s two sub-committees, monitoring and testing, focus on topics such as creation of a Trainee Bill of Rights, approval of trainers, lab and classroom equipment, and training and testing in languages other than English.
DOH Home Care Registry: This unified system tracks the training and employment status of personal care aides and home health aides. As of September 2010, all PCAs and HHAs working for Medicaid providers must be entered in the registry.
Isabella Geriatric Center’s Caregiver Ombudsman Outreach Project (Co-Op): Funded by a 3-year grant awarded to the Isabella Geriatric Center by the Weinberg Foundation, this project trains caregivers to become “advocates” and case managers. The project also links caregivers and care recipients to needed supports and services.
Jewish Home Lifecare “Senior Aides”: Jewish Home Lifecare offers a Senior Aide position, in which about 100 aides are currently working. These aides act as peer mentors or counselors to new aides, receive training in communication skills, and also work in the field with “difficult-to-serve” populations. Senior aides are paid on average about $1/hour extra.
Geriatric Nursing Assistant Career Development Program (GNACD): The goals of this 3-year initiative which began in 2010 are to improve recruitment, retention, and skill development of CNAs working in long-term care facilities. Currently funded by the Jacob and Valeria Langeloth Foundation, this program operates in for-profit nursing homes in the Long Island and New York City regions.
Direct Service Workforce Resource Center – Intensive Technical Assistance: In 2006, New York received CMS-funded technical assistance to assist the Office of People with Developmental Disabilities to work with the multi-stakeholder Direct Support Workforce Advisory Committee. The goal was to examine a wide range of direct support workforce issues in New York related to training, career paths, improving recruitment and retention of workers, and developing the workforce that serves self-directing individuals.
Consumer Directed Choices, Albany: Consumer Directed Choices is a private, nonprofit corporation located in Albany, New York founded by people with disabilities and advocates interested in changing the way home care services are delivered. The website features a tutorial and search function for consumers and personal assistants to connect.
Cooperative Home Care Associates (CHCA): CHCA has been an industry pioneer in developing a comprehensive, integrated model for direct-care worker recruitment, training, and retention. The model encompasses 4 primary elements: 1) targeted recruitment, 2) comprehensive assessment, 3) enhanced entry-level training, and 4) guaranteed employment as well as post-employment support services.
Partners in Care: An affiliate of the Visiting Nurse Service of New York, Partners in Care has been engaged in Coaching Supervision since 2006. In addition, in 2009, the organization began training its 7,400 direct-care workers in core communication skills.
Loretto’s PACE, Central New York: The Program of All Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), Central New York has developed 2 positions on its career ladder for direct-care workers: a peer mentor position for orienting new employees, and the geriatric caregiver II position for providing specialized dementia and Alzheimer’s care. The introduction of the peer mentor program has led to dramatic increases in retention among new hires since the start of the program — from 50 percent in 2005 to 90 percent for the first 6 months of 2010.
PHI State Facts: New York City’s Home Care Workforce: This 2010 fact sheet highlights the importance of personal care attendants and home health aides within the direct-care workforce in New York City and reports information on wages and benefits.
Working With Older Adults: Charting the Future of Workforce Training and Education in New York – Listening Sessions: Summary and Next Steps: The New York State Office for the Aging and the State Society on Aging of New York released a report in 2008, providing information, strategies, and suggestions obtained from a series of 8 Listening Sessions held across New York State between 2006 and 2007. These sessions focused attention on direct-care workforce training and education.
PHI New York Website: This website highlights workforce statistics, news, publications, and other resources related to New York’s direct-care workforce and eldercare and disability services.