Contact:
Deane Beebe, Media Relations Director
718.928.2033 (office) / 646.285.1039 (cell)
dbeebe@PHInational.org

We applaud Representative Linda Sanchez (D-CA) for introducing the Direct Care Workforce Empowerment Act. The bill includes minimum wage and overtime protections for America’s home care workers. One of America’s fastest-growing workforces, home care aides have been treated by the Department of Labor as a contingent workforce for too long.

Through our Campaign for Fair Pay, PHI, the Direct Care Alliance, and our allies continue to press the Department of Labor to immediately address this issue by ending the “companionship exemption” for workers who provide care and support to elders and to persons with disabilities. These workers should be provided the same protections under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act that virtually all other workers enjoy.

Rep. Sanchez’s Direct Care Workforce Empowerment Act also seeks to build on the important accomplishments of the recently passed Affordable Care Act, which includes direct-care training funds as well as two national panels — the National Healthcare Workforce Commission and the Personal Care Attendants Workforce Advisory Panel. These initiatives will help address how to improve the quality of direct-care jobs, while improving the quality and efficiency of health care for all Americans.

We look forward to working with these panels, Representative Sanchez, our colleagues at the Direct Care Alliance and other allies to address the issues of compensation, training, and advancement opportunities for all direct-care workers who provide vital services and supports to America’s families.

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About PHI
PHI (www.phinational.org) works to improve the lives of people who need home and residential care—and the lives of the workers who provide that care. Using our workplace and policy expertise, we help consumers, workers, employers, and policymakers improve eldercare and disability services by creating quality direct-care jobs. Our goal is to ensure caring, stable relationships between consumers and workers, so that both may live with dignity, respect, and independence.

Contact:
Deane Beebe, Media Relations Director
718.928.2033 (office) / 646.285.1039 (cell)
dbeebe@PHInational.org

Wages Remain Unchanged for Past Decade, New PHI Analysis Shows

New York, NY — A new PHI analysis finds that a growing number of states report that personal and home care aides are receiving wages that put them at risk of poverty.

In 2009, 36 states reported average hourly wages that fell below 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Level, up from 32 states in 2008, according to the analysis reported in the PHI State Chart Book on Wages for Personal and Home Care Aides (pdf).

Wages below 200 percent of the federal poverty level ($10.42) are low enough to be eligible for many state and federal public assistance programs.

“That fully two-thirds of states are now reporting these kinds of low wage levels for personal care workers is very disappointing,” said Dr. Dorie Seavey, PHI director of policy research.

“These very low wages are a significant obstacle to meeting the country’s rapidly growing demand for personal assistance services,” Dr. Seavey said. “They also jeopardize the economic security of hundreds of thousands of caregivers who make it possible for others to live independently.”

The PHI Chart Book tracks wages in all 50 states and the District of Columbia and presents an entire decade of data from 1999 to 2009.

Other highlights of the wage analysis for personal and home care aides include:

• After adjusting for inflation, national wages for home care aides and personal care aides (PCAs) essentially remained unchanged over the 10-year period.
• In 2009, within the continental U.S., state nominal median wages ranged from $7.50 in Texas to $12.01 in the District of Columbia; real median wages (in 1999 dollars) ranged from $6.01 to $9.66.
• Over the 10-year period, 15 states showed a decline in real median wages for these workers. Eight states saw real wages fall by 5 percent or more.

The wages reported in the PHI State Chart Book on Wages for Personal and Home Care Aides (pdf) reflect both publicly paid and privately paid workers. More information about methodology for the analysis is available in the “Technical Notes” section of the chart book.

“PHI’s wage analysis for personal care aides is very timely. It can inform the federal government’s growing concern with improving the quality of these jobs and ensuring that there is a sufficient personal care aide workforce to meet future demand,” said Steve Edelstein, PHI national policy director.

“With the passage of health reform, for the first time, the need to improve the quality of personal care aide jobs is receiving concerted federal attention.”

There are several provisions in the national health care law that affect personal care aides, including the formation of a Personal Care Attendant Workforce Advisory Panel that will be charged with examining and advising on PCA workforce issues, including wages, benefits, and access to services. The Affordable Care Act also provides funding for six states to develop Personal Care Attendant training demonstration programs that emphasize core competencies and certification of these workers.

Personal and home care aides assist elderly or disabled adults with daily living activities such as dressing, bathing, meal preparation, eating, housekeeping, and medication management, in their clients’ homes or a daytime non-residential facility.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2008, there were 817,000 personal and home care aides, but that figure is believed to be seriously underestimated because it excludes significant numbers of aides who are self-employed or work directly for consumers and families.

The demand for new personal care positions is expected to grow by 46 percent by 2018. “Personal and home care aides” are the nation’s fourth fastest-growing occupational group. More information on the occupational projections for personal and home care aides is available in PHI FACTS 1 — Occupational Projections for Direct-Care Workers 2008-2018 (pdf).

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About PHI
PHI (www.phinational.org) works to improve the lives of people who need home and residential care—and the lives of the workers who provide that care. Using our workplace and policy expertise, we help consumers, workers, employers, and policymakers improve eldercare and disability services by creating quality direct-care jobs. Our goal is to ensure caring, stable relationships between consumers and workers, so that both may live with dignity, respect, and independence.

Contact:
Deane Beebe, Media Relations Director
718.928.2033 (office) / 646.285.1039 (cell)
dbeebe@PHInational.org

New York, NY — PHI and The Eden Alternative have formed an official alliance to bring the PHI Coaching Approach^SM to the international community of Eden subscribers.

PHI works to improve the lives of people who need home and residential care — and the lives of the workers who provide that care.

The PHI Coaching Approach^SM provides the core skills necessary to support the empowerment of consumers who receive long-term services and supports and the staff who support them, and the development of significant relationships between the two.

“PHI and the Eden Alternative are a natural fit,” said Cean Eppelheimer, PHI Midwest Training & Organizational Development Specialist and Certified Eden Associate, Educator, and Mentor.

“At the recent International Eden Conference, the participants’ level of interest and excitement in PHI’s coaching skills was high. Everyone immediately recognized the relevance of the information to the culture transformation process and how it can enhance it.”

“The Eden Alternative and PHI are leaders in the culture change movement and share a common mission to improve the lives of people who need care and those who care for them,” said Chris Perna, CEO of The Eden Alternative, which has been working to de-institutionalize the culture and environment of nursing homes and other long-term care institutions.

“This is a natural opportunity for two organizations with similar values to partner together to serve our common constituencies. The Eden Alternative team is very excited about the potential impact of this powerful partnership on the culture change movement.”

To facilitate the widespread use of the PHI skills-based approach in The Eden Alternative’s culture-change process, Eden’s recently released culture change guide — the Path to Mastery^TM — includes information on the PHI Coaching Approach.

The PHI Coaching Approach helps eldercare providers build within their staffs five essential skills that support relationship-centered caregiving:

• Active listening;
• Self reflection/self management;
• Clear non-judgmental communication;
• Collaborative problem solving; and
• Participative leadership.

“The culture of an organization is created one conversation at a time,” Eppelheimer said. “In order to create a healthy culture of mutual respect and empowerment, people need fundamental coaching and communication skills. We aren’t born with these skills — we need to be taught. The PHI Coaching Approach brings these skills to the culture transformation process.”

The PHI and Eden Alternative partnership was recently announced at the 5th International Eden Alternative Conference, where PHI staff held well-attended workshops on the PHI Coaching Approach^SM.

Many long-term care employers and staff across the nation have been trained in the PHI Coaching Approach to help them build the skills essential to create relationship-centered caregiving.

More information on PHI Training & Organizational Development Services, including the PHI Coaching Approach^SM and implementing culture change in nursing homes, is available on PHI’s website.

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About PHI
PHI (www.phinational.org) works to improve the lives of people who need home and residential care — and the lives of the workers who provide that care. Using our workplace and policy expertise, we help consumers, workers, employers, and policymakers improve eldercare and disability services by creating quality direct-care jobs. Our goal is to ensure caring, stable relationships between consumers and workers, so that both may live with dignity, respect, and independence.

Contact:
Deane Beebe, Media Relations Director
718.928.2033 (office) / 646.285.1039 (cell) / dbeebe@PHInational.org

Public Infrastructure Is Needed to Support Trend in Consumer-Directed Care

New York, NY — A national survey conducted by PHI to assess whether states have a public “matching services registry” to facilitate connections between consumers who receive self-directed care in their homes — and independent direct-care workers who provide that care — found that only one-third of the states have developed this type of registry.

Self-directed care allows elders and people with disabilities, or their families, to directly hire and supervise independent caregivers who provide personal care services and supports.

“Consumer-directed care is the fastest-growing service delivery option,” said PHI Director of Policy Research Dorie Seavey, Ph.D., who conducted the survey. “Yet there is little public infrastructure in place to help consumers and providers find each other for appropriate and efficient employment matches.

“Robust, public matching service registries can alleviate some of the challenges that both consumers and workers face. They can reduce unmet need due to difficulties that consumers encounter trying to locate independent providers. And for workers, they can play a valuable role in stabilizing employment and providing access points for training and other resources,” Dr. Seavey said.

Public “matching service registries” are interactive electronic databases that typically provide up-to-date detailed information about the consumer’s needs and preferences and the worker’s availability, skills, and preferences. They may also offer additional services such as worker screening and orientation, access to consumer and worker training, and recruitment and outreach to potential workers. Consumers and workers must each initiate their side of the transaction.

PHI’s state-by-state survey on public “matching services registries” found that:

• 16 states had statewide matching services
• 5 states had regional matching services
• 2 states had matching services under consideration or development
• 28 states had no statewide or regional matching service

A list of the states is below.

“The typical information and referral service offered by resource centers in aging and disability networks today is little more than a list pulled out of a drawer; the information may not be up to date,” Dr. Seavey said. “Matching service registries can play a significant role in building an infrastructure for the self-directed care that will be in even greater demand with the passage of the CLASS Act.”

There are two other types of public registries currently in use. “Quality assurance registries” — such as the nurse aide registries that exist in every state — provide directories of individuals who have satisfactorily completed a state’s training requirements to work in nursing homes and other long-term care programs. Some states also maintain “safety registries” that list workers with criminal backgrounds or abuse findings.

Today there are over 3 million direct-care workers, and over 1 million new positions are needed by 2018, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). A quarter of the nearly 1 million Personal and Home Care Aides in 2008 were either directly employed by private households or were self-employed, according to the BLS Employment Projections Program. However, a PHI Fact Sheet (pdf) explains that this figure significantly underestimates the number of independent providers of direct-care services.

The PHI Public Matching Services Registry Project is a multi-year project that will continue to document and track matching service registries across the states, highlight what is learned from these efforts, and encourage policies that improve and support infrastructure for self-direction.

More information on public matching services registries is available on PHI’s website, including an interactive map that illustrates what states have these registries and provides a snapshot description of the service. The PHI Public Matching Services Registry Project is funded with support from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research through the Center for Personal Assistance Services at the University of California at San Francisco.

Statewide Matching Service Registries (16)
Arkansas
California (52 county-based registries)
Connecticut
Massachusetts
Maine
Michigan
North Dakota
New Hampshire
New Jersey
Ohio
Oregon
Rhode Island
South Carolina
Vermont
Washington
Wisconsin

Regional Matching Services Registries (5)
Idaho
Illinois
Kansas
New York
Pennsylvania

Recent Legislative Efforts to Launch Matching Services Registries (2)
Connecticut
Missouri

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About PHI
PHI (www.phinational.org) works to improve the lives of people who need home and residential care—and the lives of the workers who provide that care. Using our workplace and policy expertise, we help consumers, workers, employers, and policymakers improve eldercare and disability services by creating quality direct-care jobs. Our goal is to ensure caring, stable relationships between consumers and workers, so that both may live with dignity, respect, and independence.

PHI Media Contact:
Deane Beebe
718.928.2033 / dbeebe@PHInational.org

NCOA Media Contact:
Connie Hofmann
610.687.5495 / chofmann@aboutscp.com

Falls Prevention Curriculum Available Online at No Cost

Washington, D.C. — The National Council on Aging (NCOA) and PHI have launched a new partnership to provide, at no cost, a Falls Prevention Awareness curriculum for home health care workers across the country, in an effort to reduce occurrences of the most common injury to older adults.

Uniquely designed for adult learners, the Falls Prevention Awareness curriculum helps home health aides reduce client falls and injury by increasing awareness of the risk factors for common falls and improving communication skills. Specifically, participants build on their existing knowledge, strengthen their “observe, record, report” skills, and develop communication skills to help them educate clients on how to reduce their risk of falling.

The training program is available now and can be downloaded directly from the PHI or NCOA websites. The downloadable course includes two three-hour sessions that employers can use to meet in-service requirements.

Falls are the leading cause of death by injury for older Americans. They threaten the lives, safety, and independence of older adults and have an enormous impact on the cost of health care.

In 2005, the total direct cost of all fall injuries for people 65 and older exceeded $34 billion.

“The incidence of falls can be reduced through lifestyle adjustments and intervention programs,” said Jim Firman, President of NCOA. “Working with PHI, we can greatly expand training options for the dedicated home health aides who provide so much of the day-to-day care to older Americans.”

“PHI is honored to partner with the NCOA to make this curriculum more widely available to the 3.2 million paid caregivers who serve and support older Americans,” said Steven Dawson, President of PHI. “We are also working with NCOA on national policies impacting elder services as part of the Eldercare Workforce Alliance, and look forward to new partnership opportunities to support both older adults and their caregivers.”

NCOA is a leading advocate for the prevention of falls among older adults. As a lead partner in The Falls Free^TM Coalition, NCOA developed a roadmap for how to reduce falls among older adults. Congress used the plan as the basis for the Safety of Seniors Act, passed in 2008. NCOA will make the training program available to all of its members through its website, community newsletters, and through the Falls Free Coalition state networks. This curriculum was developed with funding from the U.S. Department of Labor as a special project of NCOA’s Senior Community Service Employment Program.

PHI is nationally recognized for its development of high-quality training programs for direct-care workers. Its adult learner–centered approach has proven successful in engaging diverse learners with more life experience than formal education.

For more information, or to download the curriculum, please visit the PHI or NCOA websites.

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About the National Council on Aging
The National Council on Aging (NCOA) is a non-profit service and advocacy organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. NCOA is a national voice for older Americans — especially those who are vulnerable and disadvantaged — and the community organizations that serve them. It brings together non-profit organizations, businesses, and government to develop creative solutions that improve the lives of all older adults. NCOA works with thousands of organizations across the country to help seniors find jobs and benefits to improve their health, live independently, and remain active in their communities. For more information, visit www.ncoa.org.

About PHI
PHI (www.phinational.org) works to improve the lives of people who need home and residential care—and the lives of the workers who provide that care. Using our workplace and policy expertise, we help consumers, workers, employers, and policymakers improve eldercare and disability services by creating quality direct-care jobs. Our goal is to ensure caring, stable relationships between consumers and workers, so that both may live with dignity, respect, and independence.

Contact:
Deane Beebe, PHI Media Relations Director
646.285.1039 / dbeebe@PHInational.org
Amy Robins, PHI Massachusetts State Director
857-939-9875 / arobins@PHInational.org

Poor Job Quality and Potentially Fewer Women Workers Entering Labor Force Present Challenges, Lawmakers Told

Boston, MA — Massachusetts will need nearly 23,000 more direct-care workers by 2016, but demographic changes and the quality of these jobs present challenges to meeting the rapidly rising demand for these workers, Dorie Seavey, PhD, PHI director of policy research, said today at a legislative briefing on the state’s direct-care workforce.

There are 100,000 direct-care workers — nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants; home health aides; and personal care aides — that provide long-term services and supports to elders and people living with disabilities in Massachusetts. The direct-care workforce is the state’s second largest occupational group — greater than nurses, and school teachers from preschool to grade 12 — and ranks sixth of occupations that are expected to add the most new positions.

“The demand for direct-care jobs is increasing dramatically. We need to understand more about these workers and their employers in order to ensure that we have the workforce we need to care for elders and people with disabilities,” said State Senator Patricia Jehlen, co-chair of the Joint Committee on Elder Affairs, which co-sponsored the briefing with the Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development. “The briefing today was a great start.”

“Direct-care workers play a crucial role in our society, caring for elders and people with disabilities. As legislators, we need to pay more attention to workers like these,” said State Representative Alice Wolf, co-chair of the Joint Committee on Elder Affairs.

The combination of this large-scale, low-income workforce, a high demand for new positions, and heavy public reimbursement for eldercare and disability services will lead to strong and ongoing, private-sector job creation and other economic benefits, Dr. Seavey told lawmakers. Yet, there are challenges, she explained.

The number of women who are entering this workforce between the ages of aged 25-54 — the people who typically fill direct-care jobs — is declining.

Direct-care jobs are among the state’s lowest paying jobs, provide inadequate health care coverage, and have inconsistent training requirements that are not aligned with wages. The hours are unpredictable and often only part-time. Consequently, Massachusetts direct-care workers are forced to rely on public benefits, Seavey said.

“We need to strengthen the quality of these jobs so that they reflect the importance of this work and these jobs to Massachusetts families and communities.” Seavey said. “To do that we need legislators to join together to do two things: ‘raise the floor’ for these jobs in terms of compensation and training standards and help ‘build ladders’ that offer direct-care workers job mobility, specialized training, and even new roles as part of redesigned care teams.”

“The challenges we face in long-term care are endless,” said Rosemary McLaughlin, executive director at Marina Bay Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Quincy and a briefing panelist. “Ultimately, our job is to provide the best care we can to our residents. We need well-trained, dedicated direct-care workers to make that happen. Today was an opportunity to remind the legislature about the importance of this industry and the importance of this workforce.”

“Just because you get older does not mean you should have to give up your dignity. The direct-care workforce is instrumental in that effort. I really appreciated the opportunity to talk with the legislature today about the important service my workers perform,” said panelist Paul Dzialo, president and CEO of Affinity Home Care.

“PHI appreciates that the legislators have taken the time to learn more about the Massachusetts’ direct-care workforce,” said PHI Massachusetts State Director Amy Robins. “The briefing was an important step toward ensuring that Massachusetts is prepared to care for residents who are elderly or living with a disability and in need of long-term services and supports.”

The briefing was sponsored by the joint legislative committees in collaboration with PHI; Home Care Alliance of Massachusetts; MassAging; MassALFA (Assisted Living Facilities Association); Massachusetts Council for Home Care Aide Services; Massachusetts Senior Care Alliance; and SEIU/1199.

More information on the direct-care workforce is available at PHI, including PHI’s Massachusetts Fact Sheet (pdf).

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PHI (www.phinational.org) works to improve the lives of people who need home and residential care—and the lives of the workers who provide that care. Using our workplace and policy expertise, we help consumers, workers, employers, and policymakers improve eldercare and disability services by creating quality direct-care jobs. Our goal is to ensure caring, stable relationships between consumers and workers, so that both may live with dignity, respect, and independence.

Contact:
Deane Beebe, PHI Media Relations Director
718-928-2033; 646.285.1039 / dbeebe@PHInational.org

Study Disputes California Legislative Analysts’ Office Conclusion

A new study released today by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research and PHI concludes that reducing In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) in California will be costly for taxpayers. California’s Medicaid long-term care program, which includes IHSS, currently places among the top five states in terms of coverage, balance between nursing home and home- and community-based care, and cost effectiveness.

The study, Costs and Benefits of IHSS for the Elderly and People with Disabilities: A California Case Study, by Dr. Candace Howes, Professor of Economics at Connecticut College, refutes findings of a January 21, 2010, report from California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) on the fiscal impact of the IHSS program, which provides daily supports for seniors and people with disabilities. The study shows the LAO underestimated the increase in costs that will be borne by taxpayers if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 2010-2011 budget proposal to reduce or eliminate IHSS services for 444,000 people were to be implemented. The IWPR-PHI study also shows that the state could achieve nearly equivalent savings and improve the quality of life for seniors and people with disabilities by shifting some of those who are in nursing homes into community care.

“Howes’ California analysis brings to the forefront the ‘anti-rebalancing’ consequences of cuts to in-home services for any state. Such cuts have become a trend over the last year, with more than half of the states cutting home care services programs in response to current budget deficits,” says Dr. Dorie Seavey, PHI Director of Policy Research. “States should take note of the costly consequences of sliding backwards down the rebalancing scale, and also the prospect of expensive litigation to defend the rights of consumers to live in their homes and other community-based settings.”

In the January 2010 report, the LAO argued that the state could make IHSS more cost effective if it implemented a three-tiered targeting proposal in which only the most impaired third of IHSS recipients would receive services. For the other two thirds, services would be reduced or eliminated altogether. “Replacing the IHSS with this three-tiered targeting would cause the ranking of California’s long-term care program to fall below the mean for all states,” says Dr. Heidi Hartmann, President of IWPR.

California is not the only state looking for ways to reduce the cost of its Medicaid programs in the face of huge budget deficits. This briefing suggests that if states cut their home- and community-based services it would weaken their long-term care programs and cost them more in the long run.

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Publishers of the case study include:

PHI (www.phinational.org) works to improve the lives of people who need home and residential care—and the lives of the workers who provide that care. Using our workplace and policy expertise, we help consumers, workers, employers, and policymakers improve eldercare and disability services by creating quality direct-care jobs. Our goal is to ensure caring, stable relationships between consumers and workers, so that both may live with dignity, respect, and independence.

The Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) conducts rigorous research and disseminates its findings to address the needs of women, promote public dialogue, and strengthen families, communities, and societies. The Institute works with policymakers, scholars, and public interest groups to design, execute, and disseminate research that illuminates economic and social policy issues affecting women and their families, and to build a network of individuals and organizations that conduct and use women-oriented policy research. IWPR’s work is supported by foundation grants, government grants and contracts, donations from individuals, and contributions from organizations and corporations. IWPR is a 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt organization that also works in affiliation with the women’s studies and public policy programs at The George Washington University.

Contact:
Deane Beebe, PHI Media Relations Director
646.285.1039 / dbeebe@PHInational.org
Amy Robins, PHI Massachusetts State Director
857.939.9875/ arobins@PHInational.org

What: The Massachusetts Legislative Briefing on the Direct-Care Workforce will highlight the critical role direct-care workers play in the state’s economy and in the lives of its residents. Both direct-care workers and employers — from a variety of long-term care settings — will discuss the challenges and opportunities of direct-care work in Massachusetts.

Who: The Massachusetts Joint Committee on Elder Affairs and Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development are sponsoring the briefing in collaboration with PHI; Home Care Alliance of Massachusetts; MassAging; MassALFA (Assisted Living Facilities Association); Massachusetts Council for Home Care Aide Services; Massachusetts Senior Care Alliance; and SEIU/1199.

Participants:

• Senator Patricia Jehlen, Chair, Joint Committee on Elder Affairs
• Representative Alice Wolf, Chair, Joint Committee on Elder Affairs
• Senator Thomas McGee, Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development (to be confirmed)
• Amy Robins, PHI Massachusetts State Director
• Dorie Seavey, Ph.D., PHI Director of Policy Research
• Personal Care Attendant, Home Care Agency and Nursing Home Employers
• Direct-Care Workers

Where: Massachusetts State House, Room B-2

When: May 5, 2010 at 11:00 A.M.

Why: Direct-care jobs are one of the fastest-growing occupations in Massachusetts. Today, 100,000 nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants; home health aides; and personal care aides provide about 70 to 80 percent of the paid, hands-on long-term care services and supports to elders and people living with disabilities in the state. These low-wage workers earn far less than the hourly median wage for all workers in the Commonwealth; as many as 40 percent depend on public assistance, such as Medicaid or food stamps. Despite Massachusetts’ landmark health care legislation enacted in 2006, many direct-care workers have been left behind: they are either ineligible for employer-sponsored health care or cannot afford it. The poor quality of these jobs will affect the supply of workers as the population ages, leaving many Massachusetts families struggling to find appropriate care for their elders.

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PHI (www.phinational.org) works to improve the lives of people who need home and residential care—and the lives of the workers who provide that care. Using our workplace and policy expertise, we help consumers, workers, employers, and policymakers improve eldercare and disability services by creating quality direct-care jobs. Our goal is to ensure caring, stable relationships between consumers and workers, so that both may live with dignity, respect, and independence.

Contact:
Deane Beebe, PHI Media Relations Director
718.928.2033 / dbeebe@PHInational.org

New York, NY — Older women aged 55+ are projected to become 30 percent of the nation’s direct-care workforce by 2018 — up from 22 percent in just ten years, according to PHI’s recent analysis of employment demographics for direct-care workers.

By 2018, 1.2 million direct-care workers are expected to be women aged 55 and over.

The significant increase in older direct-care workers (nursing home assistants, home health aides, and personal and home care aides) is anticipated in part because the workforce overall is growing dramatically — from 3.2 million to 4.3 million workers.

Older women in particular are expected to be more prevalent in the direct-care workforce because the nation’s entire workforce is aging.

“Older women are increasingly providing frontline services and supports for frail elders and people with disabilities to live independently and with dignity,” said PHI President Steven Dawson, who will report on older direct-care workers today, at the National Council on Aging/American Society on Aging’s joint conference in Chicago.

“National and state policymakers must work together to ensure that direct-care jobs, which are primarily funded through public dollars, are quality jobs that attract a stable, compassionate workforce,” said Dawson. “Without these workers, families will not be able to provide the support elders need to live independently and to continue to enjoy the relationships and activities that give their lives meaning.”

In 2008, the median hourly wage for all direct-care workers was $10.42, which is significantly less than $15.57, the median wage for all U.S. workers. Without competitive wages, the older women who are filling these positions today are likely to look elsewhere for employment.

Direct-care workers, who are 90 percent female, tend to be older than females in the nation’s overall workforce — 22 percent of direct-care workers were aged 55+ in 2008 compared to 18 percent for the overall female workforce. An even greater proportion (28.1 percent) of personal and home care aides were aged 55 or older in 2008.

The projections were made by Dorie Seavey, Ph.D., director of policy research at PHI, by analyzing data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey (CPS), 2009 Annual Social and Economic (ASEC) Supplement, and applying the information to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections Program, 2008-18 National Employment Matrix.

More information about the direct-care workforce, including The Direct-Care Worker at a Glance (pdf), fact sheets, reports, and a Chart Gallery, are available on PHI’s PolicyWorks website.

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PHI (www.phinational.org) works to improve the lives of people who need home and residential care—and the lives of the workers who provide that care. Using our workplace and policy expertise, we help consumers, workers, employers, and policymakers improve eldercare and disability services by creating quality direct-care jobs. Our goal is to ensure caring, stable relationships between consumers and workers, so that both may live with dignity, respect, and independence.

Contact:
Deane Beebe, PHI Media Relations Director
718.928.2033 / dbeebe@PHInational.org

New York, NY — PHI’s unique training programs have been accredited by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC).

PHI training programs are designed to help registered nurses and other providers in home health care, nursing home, and facility-based settings manage change and create dynamic relationship-centered organizations that better serve elders, people with disabilities, and their families.

PHI, a national nonprofit organization, works to improve the lives of people who need home and residential care — and the lives of the workers who provide that care.

“We are delighted that registered nurses are now eligible to receive contact hours accredited by the American Nurses Credentialing Center, when they continue their nursing education through PHI’s training programs,” said PHI Director of Training & Organizational Development Services Susan Misiorski, BSN.

The PHI Coaching Approach^SM, PHI’s suite of training programs, builds the skills to create a supportive workplace culture and fosters respectful relationships throughout an organization. Among the PHI training programs that have been accredited by ANCC are:

• Coaching Approach to Supervision
• Coaching Approach to Leadership
• Coaching Approach to Communication
• Coaching Approach to Peer Mentoring (Train the Trainer)
• Person-Centered Care — Getting Back to the Heart of Nursing

“ANCC accreditation of PHI courses is important to nurses who are required to show evidence of continuing education to maintain an active nursing license, as well as to maintain professional certification within the nurses’ chosen nursing specialties,” said Misiorski.

To learn more about PHI’s accredited training programs, the number of contact hours for each program, and PHI Training & Organizational Development Services, visit PHI’s website (www.phinational.org) and contact the Training & Organizational Development staff.

The American Nurses Credentialing Center is the largest and most prominent nurse credentialing organization in the United States, and a subsidiary of the American Nurses Association (ANA). The ANCC’s system for accreditation of continuing nursing education is a voluntary peer-reviewed accreditation process.

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PHI (www.phinational.org) works to improve the lives of people who need home and residential care—and the lives of the workers who provide that care. Using our workplace and policy expertise, we help consumers, workers, employers, and policymakers improve eldercare and disability services by creating quality direct-care jobs. Our goal is to ensure caring, stable relationships between consumers and workers, so that both may live with dignity, respect, and independence.