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Crisis in Homecare Aides NY Times

The New York Times featured a story on the crisis in home care aides on September 25th,2021.The NYT article warned ranks of home care aides are expected to grow by more than those of any other job in the next decade, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.But It’s also among the lowest paying occupations on the list. Yet in spite of geriatric care managers  and homecare’s dependence on these aides ,nearly one in five aides lives below the poverty line.  So we have a crisis built on high demand and low supply.

Geriatric Care management depends on home care aides.

Whether a Geriatric Care Manager is placing aides through a partnership with a private duty Home Care agency or employs them by being  a Care Managed Home Care Agency- working with elders means 90% of the aging clients will need  from 4 to 24 hour care from home care aides.

Home Care Aide Top Job In Growth

 

The ranks of home care aides are expected to grow by more than those of any other job in the next decade, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It’s also among the lowest paying occupations on the list. Yet .in spite of geriatric care managers dependence or these aides ,nearly one in five aides lives below the poverty line. 

Seniors Want To Remain at Home

 By 2030, 21 percent of the American population will be at the retirement age, up from 15 percent in 2014, and older adults have long been moving away from institutionalized care. According to an AARP survey, three-quarters of Americans age 50 and older

indicated they prefer to remain in their current residence or community for as long as possible as opposed to a senior care facility.The

preference among older adults to remain in familiar homes and communities is termed “aging in place   “ 

Home Care Industry in Dire Straights

In 2019, national spending on home health care reached a high of $113.5 billion, a 40 percent increase from 2013, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

But this growing industry , which Geriatric Care Managers and all aging services  critically need to support aging in place or care at home rather than an institution,  is in dire trouble.

The pandemic only made things worse. It exposed the vulnerability of not only the

elderly and infirm but also of those who care for them. As Covid-19 spread across the country, many families turned to home health care as an alternative to nursing homes, which had become hot spots for the virus. Shortages of personal protective equipment made the work risky. Many home care aides have not been able to work due to their own underlying conditions, family concerns or general anxiety. This has caused a crisis in the Home Industry, which care managers depend upon for staffing cases. Now with the Biden Mandate of requiring Medicaid and Medicare home care providers to get vaccination, there will be a whole new crisis with care providers under those giant government programs or work in hospitals .

Solutions to the National loss of Home Care Aides

There are many other factors fueling the loss of  paid care providers and there are great solutions offered by Leading Age a national non profit for aging and home care.

This includes , expanding training, increasing pay and increasing the caregiver pipeline to include college students, high school students and recent immigrants.