One of the fastest growing industries in the United States right now, and for the next several years at least, is the home health care industry. With home health care aides being in high demand, it would seem that (economically speaking) that there would be a high number of applicants looking to fill these high paying jobs.
The problem is that these jobs are not high paying. Basic economic principles state that the more demand there is for a product or service, the more it will cost (or in this case, the more workers would be paid). Due to Medicaid reimbursement rates, insurance, and other factors, the pay for in home care providers is generally low, even though the demands of the job are high.
High turnover .
It's one of the main reasons why there is such a high turnover rate within this industry; when people are not paid well and the job is highly demanding and pressure filled, it will drive them away from the profession.
Which leads to the impending problem within the industry. Due to a couple of converging factors, with the Affordable Care Act passed in 2010 and the subsequent cutting of Medicaid reimbursements for home health care by 14 percent, the Baby Boomer generation reaching retirement, and hospitals being forced to discharge patients more quickly to recover at home, thus saving Medicaid money, there is a growing demand for these types of workers.
There is not a single other profession in the United States that is expected to increase faster than the home health care industry, especially with regard to home care aides. By 2022, the U.S. Labor Department is expecting the profession to grow by 50 percent. That's approximately one million new jobs.
Yet, turnover and pay are critical issues that will likely complicate this growth.
' Turnover for home-aide workers is around 40% to 65% each year, according to experts and researchers, while the median annual wage hovers around $20,000, more than $5,000 below the other health-care support occupations the Labor Department tracks. The workforce also includes personal-care aides, who help with daily, nonmedical tasks, a nd certified nursing assistants ( Wall Street Journal ).'
One home health care agency, ResCare hires about 2,000 new workers every month. The problem is that the vast majority of them are to replace those who have left.
In order to entice new workers to this line of work, the biggest stumbling block is pay and with Medicaid cuts and other factors, it may prove challenging to overcome that obstacle.
Posted by Unknown on Thursday, September 4, 2014 - Rating: 4.5
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