PRESS RELEASE: PHI Website Hosts First State-by-State Data Center on the Direct-Care Workforce
States Hampered by Lack of State-Based Information to Monitor Fastest-Growing Workforce in the Nation
Bronx, NY — Today, PHI launched the PHI State Data Center, the first web-based tool to provide comprehensive, state-by-state profiles of the direct-care workforce — the largest and fastest-growing workforce in the nation.
The new, user-friendly PHI State Data Center profiles the direct-care workforce — nursing home aides, home health aides, and personal care assistants (including direct support professionals) — in every state.
It provides easy-to-read, state-by-state charts with up-to-date, key direct-care workforce statistics, which can be easily downloaded and reproduced, featuring information on:
- workforce size and projected employment growth
- trends in wages for each direct-care occupation, and
- information on health insurance coverage rates and reliance on public assistance.
State data on wages, benefits, and occupational growth are compared to all other occupations in that state.
The new web-based data tool also features links to:
- legislation and regulatory developments pertaining to the workforce, such as summaries of pending or passed bills and regulatory actions
- notable state-based initiatives such as training programs, demonstration projects, matching service registries, person-centered care programs, and other efforts to improve the quality of care and direct-care worker jobs
- employer best practices, and
- resources, including state-specific surveys, demonstration projects, reports, and recommendations.
Workforce Planning and Monitoring Imperative to Meeting Demand
Direct-care workers provide 80 percent of the hands-on services and supports to elders and people of all ages who live with disabilities or functional impairments in home- and community-based settings and nursing homes.
The direct-care workforce is one of the largest and fastest-growing occupational groups in the nation. The workforce is key to meeting the nation's rising demand for quality long-term services and supports.
Despite this workforce's central role and importance, a recent white paper from the CMS-sponsored National Direct Service Workforce Resource Center reported that states are hampered by a lack of on-going, reliable state-based information about their direct-care workforces. The PHI State Data Center aims to begin to address the growing need that states have for better tools to monitor key vital signs of their direct-care workforces.
The PHI State Data Center compiles and analyzes the most recent data from multiple sources. Data sources, referenced on the site, include the U.S. Census Bureau's Current Population Survey and the Occupational Employment Statistics and Employment Projections Programs run by the U.S. Department of Labor and Bureau of Labor Statistics
The PHI State Data Center will be updated regularly as new data becomes available. The site will also be augmented with new functions and features.
The development of the PHI State Data Center was supported by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services/National Direct Service Workforce Resource Center and a grant from The SCAN Foundation, which is dedicated to creating a society in which seniors receive medical treatment and human services that are integrated in the setting most appropriate to their needs.
More information on the direct-care workforce — including fact sheets, policy briefs, and downloadable charts — is available at PHI PolicyWORKS.
Webinar on the PHI State Data Center
The CMS/National Direct Service Workforce Resource Center is hosting a webinar to introduce the PHI State Data Center, featuring discussion about strategies states can use to impact workforce size, wages, and benefits.
September 19
3:00 PM – 4:30 PM EDT
Call-in Number: (800) 260-0702
Code: 213233
Register HerePresenters: Dorie Seavey, PHI Director of Policy Research, and others
* * *
PHI (www.PHInational.org) is a national organization that works to improve the lives of people who need home or residential care — and of the direct-care workers who provide that care. PHI's work is grounded in the philosophy that quality jobs for direct-care workers will lead to quality care for long-term care consumers.
Deane Beebe, PHI Media Relations Director
646-285-1039
DBeebe@phinational.org
