Established by Congress in 1968, the Community Health Representative (CHR) Program provides outreach to address the specific healthcare needs of Tribal communities, predating the recognition of non-tribal Community Health Workers (CHWs). Aligned with the Indian Health Services (IHS) mandate to serve American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) populations, CHRs play a vital role in elder…
As the largest occupational group in the United States, alongside home health aides, personal care aides (PCAs) play a critical role in supporting millions of Americans. However, despite their significant presence in the workforce, PCAs continue to face persistent job quality challenges, with inadequate training being a key concern. Unlike other direct care workers, PCAs…
The growing number of individuals living with Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders presents significant challenges for health systems and policies. Primary care clinicians provide ongoing medical care for 80% of affected individuals, yet they face persistent barriers to providing high-quality dementia care. This article explores responses from interviews conducted with family physicians on what core…
Higher levels of certified nursing assistant (CNA) staffing are positively associated with improved care quality outcomes for nursing home residents, but low wages and other job-quality concerns drive high turnover and job vacancies within the CNA workforce. Evidence suggests that nursing homes have addressed workforce pressures by increasing their reliance on contract CNAs from staffing…
Some state Medicaid-funded programs enable older adults and individuals with disabilities to reside safely in their homes and participate in their communities. In the absence of federal standards, there exists wide variation in minimum training requirements between states and between programs within states. Most of the existing state training requirements are relatively undeveloped compared with…
Although previous research has demonstrated a paucity of standards in most states, a few have engaged in a rational approach to designing personal care aide (PCA) training standards with the goal of better preparing these essential frontline workers to provide care. This research brief highlights 7 “leader states” in training standards for Medicaid-funded personal care…
Personal care assistants (PCAs) provide support that enables older adults and individuals with disabilities to remain in home and community settings. This study characterizes the role played by family members and non-family PCAs in California’s Medicaid program, which oversees the nation’s largest consumer-directed personal care assistance program. We describe factors that affect turnover among PCAs,…
An imminent question for health workforce planners is how an increasingly diverse US elderly population and a greater use of home and community-based services will affect demand for long-term care workers. In this article, researchers use national surveys to analyze current use of long-term care and the current long-term care workforce, and project demand for…
In the past decade, the health care industry, and long-term care (LTC) in particular, saw substantial job growth. In anticipation of growing demand for LTC due to an aging demographic, employment opportunities in LTC are expected to surpass those of other US sectors. Workforce planners are concerned about ensuring an adequate pipeline of appropriately trained…
Peer providers are individuals hired to provide direct support to those undertaking mental health (MH) or substance use disorder (SUD) recovery, often referred to in the literature as “consumers.” The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) defines a peer provider as “a person who uses his or her lived experience of recovery from…
