Direct Caregiver Survey
Committed to Addressing the Shortage of Direct Care Workers in Arizona
The ALTCS AWFDA and its partners are committed to addressing the shortage of Direct Care Workers in Arizona. We need a growing workforce to meet the needs of Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) members in need of high-quality care.
To accomplish this goal, we need a data-driven system that includes important factors such as workforce turnover, staffing statistics, and vacancy rates.
The ALTCS Workforce Development Alliance joined with the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS), and an external consulting agency to create a Provider survey that provided baseline data about Direct Caregivers’ experience in the field of long-term care. The survey covered a range of topics from personal background and employment history to wages and compensation, job satisfaction, workplace safety, and experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.
We will use this data to analyze Arizona’s current status, forecast future trends, and develop an action plan that provides resources and support to the Arizona long-term care network (see strategic goals).
Our Primary Goals & Mission
The goal of this survey was to continue to establish baseline data for AZ so we can evaluate and measure progress over time.
This will help us understand leading factors that contribute to a workers’ intent to stay with or leave their job.
And Inform policy and practice interventions that mitigate threats to workforce stability.
Influencing these systemic changes will impact issues for our Plans to be best positioned to serve our members in need. Ultimately, we can influence the workforce by recommending actions to change recruitment, selection, training, deployment, or retention practices for workforce gaps in the Network that impact Network capacity and ability to respond to member needs.
We will be able to develop resources to fit the specific needs of this workforce.
This will allow us to identify and recommend ongoing interventions that the health care and system partners can implement to earn worker commitment, align workplace culture, establish workplace connectivity, develop worker capability, and build workforce capacity (Arizona’s 5 C’s of WFD).
Survey Recommendations
The results were categorized into actionable recommendations for both MCOs and employers with an external consulting agency providing a framework of reference from interventions implemented in other states across the country. Several of the recommendations are low or no cost. It is the goal of the ALTCS WFD Alliance to utilize the data and work in collaboration with Providers and Qualified Vendors to: Develop statewide initiatives, improvement plans, and best practices to identify and address workforce development initiatives.
Incorporation of Survey Results into ALTCS WFDA Strategic Goals
The ALTCS WFDA has worked with the AHCCCS ALTCS WFD Advisory Council, Provider agencies, national and local Caregiver affiliated groups, to gather feedback and develop initiatives that impact the Caregiver workforce in a meaningful way. In response to the needs of the statewide workforce, we have identified several potential strategic goals for 2021 and beyond. The Alliance has started applying the data from the survey to our strategic planning.
