GREIMAN: Direct Care Worker Recruitment and Retention: An Evaluation of the Health Care for Healthcare Workers Initiative
Project Description:
In 2009, Montana State Legislature passed Senate Bill 206 which was designed in part, to conduct a study to determine the feasibility, impact, and cost of providing employer sponsored health insurance to personal care attendants and direct care employees of organizations that receive most of their revenue as a result of providing Medicaid funded long term care services. This resulted in an initiative by which participating provider agencies were able to request funding to supplement the costs of health care insurance to their direct care workers. The Department of Public Health and Human Services seeks to engage a vendor to analyze the efficacy of this initiative and determine whether the funding has resulted in an increase in the recruitment and retention of direct care workers. If it has, the Department seeks to identify how the administrative burden of this initiative can be reduced for both state and agency staff. If this analysis indicates that the initiative has not met its goal of increasing the recruitment and retention of direct care workers, the Department seeks to identify outcomes-based alternatives. In this evaluation project we will complete an assessment of Montana's DPHHS Health Care for Health Care Workers Initiative for the recruitment and retention of direct care workers to include the analysis of existing workflow and outcomes. The Rural Institute for Inclusive Communities at the University of Montana will complete an analysis of the following: 1. Analyze existing recruitment and retention efforts to determine their efficacy. 2. Research other states and gather information specific to the efforts of their Medicaid programs. 3. Make recommendations specific to refinement of existing initiative resulting in a less administratively cumbersome process. 4. Provide alternatives to the existing strategies to include supporting documentation/data. To achieve these outcomes we will: 1. Work with the Community Services Bureau to obtain relevant data for analysis. 2. Interview the participating agencies to assess the effectiveness of Health Care for Health Care Workers specific to recruitment and retention of their direct care workers. 3. Interview 10% of current as well as previous participating direct care workers regarding the effectiveness of Health Care for Health Care Workers and determine reasons previous participants are no longer participating. 4. Analyze the data garnered through the interview process and the information provided by CSB Staff and provide recommendations for improvement and/or strategies for alternative, and more effective methods of recruitment and retention.
Keyword(s):
Direct care workforce, health insurance, evaluation, mediciad, HCBS
Core Function(s):
Performing Research or Evaluation
Area of Emphasis
Health-Related Activities, Employment-Related Activities
Target Audience:
Professionals and Para-Professionals, Adults with Disabilities, Legislators/Policy Makers
Unserved or Under-served Populations:
Disadvantaged Circumstances, Geographic Areas, Territory, Geographic Area - Other
Primary Target Audience Geographic Descriptor:
State
COVID-19 Related Data:
N/A
