Virginia families and taxpayers benefit from consumer-directed at home care for seniors and people with disabilities. As people who need care increasingly decide to stay in their homes rather than move to an institutional setting, the demand for caregivers is projected to rise dramatically. Now is the time to fix problems with high turnover of personal care assistants and difficulties consumers have navigating the system to ensure quality home care for seniors and people with disabilities in the years to come.
Problem: High Workforce Turnover
To have quality care for seniors and people with disabilities, consumers and their caregivers must be able to build relationships and establish continuity of care. With turnover rates in home care averaging 40 to 60 percent, the continuity of care for consumers is jeopardized.
Problem: Difficult for Consumers to Navigate
Currently, the consumer in the PCA program is solely responsible for outreach efforts to find a PCA and coordinate employment. If their PCA becomes sick, the consumer is often on their own to find a replacement or respite care worker. The difficulty that consumers face in finding and retaining qualified attendants cannot be overstated.
Currently, there is no coordination of the PCA program that would help match consumers with workers, offer referrals and respite care, oversee employment issues for the workforce, or coordinate recruitment or training for the PCA workforce. There is no statewide Directory of workers. This coordination is urgently needed.
Problem: Rising Demand, Impending Workforce Shortage
The shortage in PCAs providing direct care is projected to become more severe as the population ages.
But as the need for personal care assistants rise, Virginia continues to pay low wages and benefits to attract workers. For example, Virginia ranks 45th in wages for PCAs nationally.
The US Census estimates that by 2030 Virginia's elder population will increase 132.7 percent.
By that year the traditional caregiving workforce (women aged 25 to 44) will increase by 15.9 percent.
Now is the time to fix problems with the PCA system to ensure quality home care for people with disabilities and senior citizens in the years to come.