By Alex Brown, Inside INdiana Business
The Indiana Association for Home and Hospice Care has launched a statewide program designed to improve the retention rate for direct caregivers in the home care, hospice and personal services industries.
The CARE Connect program provides one-on-one counseling, training and instructional webinars, and support services for workers.
“Whether it’s connecting them with a behavioral health center for mental health treatment, whether it’s connecting them with a financial resource or a utility resource, we want to help them in aspects outside of their job in the home and hospice industry, to help them work successfully inside the home and hospice industry,” said Tim Scully, director of workforce development for the association.
Scully told Inside INdiana Business that the state has a very high turnover rate among direct support workers in home and hospice.
“That rate is currently 77%, which is very, very high,” he said. Retention obviously impacts the business the that home and hospice agencies are engaging in, and so having better retention can lead to not only improved client outcomes, it can lead to better care for Indiana seniors overall.”
The organization cites a recent report from MissionCare Collective, which shows that 34% of caregivers in Indiana are in a low-income household and earn an average wage of less than $15 per hour, which is a primary cause for the high turnover rate.
The report also found that 21% of caregivers nationwide self-report poor mental health, are three times more likely to suffer from anxiety and depression, and 55% receive some form of federal or state assistance.
CARE Connect launched last week throughout the state after a pilot in 14 southeast Indiana counties, as well as in some agencies in Marion County.
CARE is an acronym for Creating Action and Resources for Employees. Scully said the program is the first of its kind in the United States, differing from other programs because of its one-on-one nature.
“They have a direct consultant that can walk alongside them and understand the work that they’re doing as a direct service worker in home and hospice, but they can walk alongside that journey from beginning to end,” he said. “So whether it’s helping them in a time of crisis [or] maybe celebrating with them at the same time if they had something great happen with a client.”
The program is receiving funding by insurance company United Healthcare. IAHHC Executive Director Evan Reinhardt said the partners were keen in emphasizing the personalized nature of the program.
“We really wanted to get down to a one-to-one personal level and be able to help these individuals, whether it’s diapers, or it’s gas in a car, or just a short-term transportation opportunity, or child care, all of the above, we want to be able to address,” Reinhardt said.
Scully said the early feedback from direct service workers has been very positive, with many signing up for the program within days.
The Indiana Association for Home & Hospice Care represents more than 500 member agencies across the state, and also staffs its counterpart in Kentucky, Reinhardt said. While the program is just getting started in Indiana, the organization is already looking at expansion.
“We did kind of more of a small-scale pilot; now we’re statewide,” he said. “We want to understand the dynamics as we move forward, and then we want to move into other states. So Kentucky is the first one on the list. Then our partners at the insurance organizations, United Healthcare in particular, would like to see this go nationwide at some point.”
