PORH Helps Small Rural Hospitals Reduce Errors
Secretary of Aging Releases Report on Long-Term Care Workforce
HARRISBURG: As part of Gov. Edward G. Rendell’s commitment to addressing the many issues surrounding long-term care, Secretary of Aging Nora Dowd Eisenhower and the Pennsylvania Intra-Governmental Council on Long-Term Care today released a report detailing significant recommendations to strengthen and stabilize the state’s long-term care workforce.
The report, “2004 Pennsylvania Long-Term Care Workforce Surveys,” is available on the Department of Aging’s Web site at www.aging.state.pa.us.
“This report provides a solid foundation of knowledge upon which Pennsylvania can build for the future,” said Dowd Eisenhower. “Having accurate information about the current long-term care workforce is essential to properly plan to meet future needs and challenges.”
The report, prepared by researchers at The Pennsylvania State University and funded by the Department of Aging, updated data on the commonwealth’s direct care workforce gained from a 2000 study by Polisher Research Institute. The Penn State researchers’ main recommendations are:
- Increase and maintain higher standards for training direct care workers;
- Provide incentives to employers to improve the workforce;
- Fund a demonstration project to evaluate the impact of a comprehensive workplace improvement incentive program;
- Create and support a cadre of peer mentors for organizations undertaking workplace redesign;
- Support evidence-based practices in improving pay, benefits and supervision through a series of well-organized, one-day, high-impact conferences;
- Support a social marketing campaign on behalf of direct care careers;
- Provide infrastructure for a database on the direct care work force;
- Encourage successful consumers in the consumer-directed care model to share their insights about direct care worker management with others who are less experienced with the model; and
- Develop a strategic plan for the long-term care workforce to address the state’s service needs for the coming decade.
“This report continues our focus on the challenges faced by the long-term care industry and direct care workers,” said Paul McCarty, executive director of the Intra-Governmental Council on Long-Term Care. “Pennsylvania is at a crossroads as we work to balance needed long-term care services toward home and community-based services. Without enough well-trained direct care workers, we will not succeed.”
To view the report, visit the Department of Aging’s Web site at www.aging.state.pa.us and choose the link titled “Publications.” More information on the Pennsylvania Intra-Governmental Council on Long-Term Care is also available on the department’s Web site, or consumers may contact the Long-Term Care Helpline, toll-free, at 1-866-286-3636.
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This article was written by Gary Miller for the PA Department of Aging
Gary Miller is the Director of Communications/Press Secretary for the Pennsylvania Department of Aging. You may contact the press office at 717-783-1549.