Advocates in the elder and disability care space say fundamental challenges will stymie the growth of Connecticut's home care workforce as the state looks to a future where more people are expected to get services at home.
Connecticut’s home care workforce includes skilled home health care providers, homemaker companion agencies, personal care assistance services and respite care.
The state’s latest long term care plan released last year anticipates a handful of obstacles to meeting greater demand. By 2060, the number of people aged 65 and up is expected to double, which far outpaces the increase in working age adults, which is projected to be only 15%.
State Rep. Jane Garibay, a Democrat from Windsor Locks who co-chairs the Aging Committee, said the state’s home care workforce is already in a “crunch.”
“We're lacking nurses. We're lacking every population,” Garibay said. “But it's not only just bad policy, it's dangerous.”
Employment of home health and personal care aides is expected to grow faster than average occupations nationwide, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Connecticut needs to help build a “career ladder” for workers to advance their degrees, Garibay said.
Insufficient wages are another challenge for recruiting and retaining home care workers, said Tracy Wodatch, president of the Connecticut Association for Healthcare at Home. Many take multiple jobs to make ends meet, she said.
“Many of them, this is their niche. This is their calling," she said. "They want to care for people at home, but they just can't make the money."
Wodatch’s group represents medical and non-medical home providers. For many of those workers, the pay doesn’t compete with wages at some of Connecticut’s hospitals and nursing homes, she said.
Her group is pushing for more state investment in Medicaid so home care providers can meet the continued demand. Wodatch said because of the state’s low Medicaid reimbursement rates, care agencies have to balance a mix of payers and they can only take a certain number of patients on Medicaid.
“So that ends up closing the door on people that really need that care," she said. "And that's not what they want to do, but it's the only way they can keep their businesses going.”
The current home care labor force is also aging, another major obstacle described in the state's long-term care plan. More than a third of home care workers are 55 or older.
“We really need to look at our younger folks, and we need to get them engaged,” said Michael Werner, an aging policy analyst for the state's Commission on Women, Children, Seniors, Equity and Opportunity.
Werner said the state needs to be creative about reaching people, and can do so through local boards of education, colleges and state universities. Compensating family caregivers is also a key part of the solution, he said.
“We need to let them know that it's dignified work to work across the generations to help provide these different services,” Werner said.
