Proposal Presented for the Master Plan for Aging (#39)
Disclaimer
Throughout the MPA process, more than 100 proposals were developed thanks in particular to thousands of hours of work by external stakeholders and members of the public. These proposals and the MPA Council commentary are being submitted to the Governor and shared with policymakers and the public to inform policymaking. These proposals represent a starting point for discussion. Further discussion is necessary between relevant state agencies and stakeholders to both refine these proposals and assess which may be appropriate to adopt and implement.
Summary
Establish a revised training and credentialing infrastructure for direct care workers that allows for portability across long-term care settings through a combination of legislative, regulatory, and administrative actions. Revise current training curriculum to create a foundational direct care worker training program with the goal of establishing a recognized universal direct care worker credential.
Justification
Staffing shortages exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the need for direct caregivers to be able to move between settings to meet need. In NYS, varying credentials are needed to provide care in the home and care in a facility. SED, Office of Mental Health (OMH), Office for People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) and DOH offer training programs with differing requirements. This proposal aims to increase portability through revising the training and credentialing infrastructure to establish a foundational direct care worker training program, with the goal of establishing a recognized universal direct care worker credential. Other states are considering or beginning to implement a universal direct care worker framework as well.
Establish a revised training and credentialing infrastructure for direct care workers that allows for portability across long-term care settings through a combination of legislative and administrative actions. This would build an established, stackable credential to allow for specialization, mobility, and advancement of direct care workers while effectively meeting the needs of all long-term care clients. This proposal would help to increase the supply of direct care workers in all settings.
- Convene industry experts (including NYSOFA) and agency staff from DOH, OMH, OPWDD and SED and task them with articulating the core competencies required by all direct care workers across programs / settings.
- Require alignment between DOH, OMH, OPWDD and SED – potentially through a consolidation of direct care worker training oversight – to support a more streamlined training system.
- Revise current training curriculum to establish a foundational direct care worker training program (based on the core competencies identified by the group of industry experts and agency staff) with the goal of establishing a recognized universal direct care worker credential.
- Include training content that prepares direct care workers for the current long-term care landscape including client acuity, cultural competency, social norms, and inclusivity. Require rigorous evaluation to inform necessary adjustments to curriculum and training and monitor outcomes. In addition, any new barrier to entry into training needs to be evaluated and mitigated.
This proposal is categorized as long-term. DOH and SED are engaged in discussions regarding direct care worker training and credentialing to maximize the efficacy of the caregiving workforce. Implementation of this proposal would also require discussion and collaboration with other agencies involved in direct care certifications, such as OMH and OPWDD. Such discussions would need to consider the tradeoffs between establishing a more universal training model and maintaining appropriate levels of specialization.