Medium
ND Olmstead Plan Goal #5: Strengthen direct service workforce.
- Quantify the workforce shortage to include all helping professionals.
- Develop a methodology to determine the actual projected shortage rates for case managers by territory, including rural areas.
- Develop and implement recruitment strategies for additional case managers if it is determined that shortages exist or are projected to exist.
- Expand the workforce by increasing resources for long-term care agencies and organizations to advocate for resources to improve in-home worker wages, benefits, and training.
- Utilize the QSP Hub to provide education, conferences, professional development, support, etc. for direct service workers.
- Establish funding to sustain the QSP Hub
- Continue to provide support in timeliness of agency and individual QSP enrollment process.
- Utilize paid family caregivers.
- Align reimbursement rates for institutions and in-home providers to sufficiently encourage the reduction or elimination of disparities in wages paid to staff providing the same or similar services in different settings.
- Strengthen training and support for consumers of in-home services.
- Ensure people have the opportunity to interview and decide on the agency caregivers they want.
- Provide training and support for consumers to report abuse and neglect by caregivers in agency settings.
- Strengthen training and supports for direct service staff and family caregivers.
- Build public/political will to implement adequate Direct Support Professional training and support.
- Establish a statewide direct service/caregiver network that provides education, conferences, professional development, support, etc., for employees in the field and funding to support this.
- Provide free education and training required for direct service workers (i.e., free community college bill) or tuition forgiveness for people in social/human services who work in the caregiver field for two years.
- Adopt policies to support the family caregiver workforce.
- Provide automatic health insurance coverage for self-directed family caregivers (Medicaid eligibility)