Five states — California, Maryland, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Texas — are actively implementing or developing comprehensive frameworks to bring together stakeholders from various sectors — such as healthcare, social services, housing, transportation and workforce development — to address the needs of an aging population, according to a report from ADvancing States published last month.
The move to create so-called multisector plans for aging follows a six-month learning collaborative that the five states, plus four others and three national partners joined in 2024 to develop plans and policies meant to bridge the roles of direct care workers and family caregivers in an effort to stabilize workforce shortages.
Additional states in the collaborative were Arizona, Idaho, North Carolina and Utah, which also had input from the National Academy for State Health Policy, the National Alliance for Caregiving and PHI. The State Learning Collaborative on Integrating Direct Care Workforce and Family Caregiving Policies was funded by the John A. Hartford Foundation.
“With an aging population, the gap between the care needed and the workforce available to provide it continues to widen. However, these groups have historically operated in parallel rather than as integrated components of a unified system,” the Arlington, VA-based organization said. “Recognizing this, states are now pursuing policies to bridge these roles, ensuring that direct care workers and family caregivers have opportunities to be connected to one another and are supported, trained and integrated into the care system.”
The idea behind the collaborative was that integrating family caregivers with direct care workers into care teams can lead to better outcomes in long-term services and supports, or LTSS. Integrating the two types of caregivers can alleviate pressure on the workforce and prevent burnout among family members, according to the report.
“Additionally, as Medicaid is the primary payer for LTSS that help older adults and people with disabilities live their lives independently, supporting family caregivers and direct care workers will be an increasingly crucial component of states’ efforts to control Medicaid costs while still providing quality care to their residents,” ADvancing States said.
According to ADvancing States, more research is needed regarding integrating direct care and family caregivers at the state level. Other areas to be explored, the organization said, include case manager training, self-direction, technology enablement and caregiver awareness campaigns.
“We recommend further collaboration among states and other stakeholders to examine these and other possible areas of intersection,” ADvancing States said.
Source: McKnights Seniorliving
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