LeadingAge NY Testifies at Joint Assembly Health Care Workforce Hearing
The Assembly Standing Committees on Health, Mental Health, People with Disabilities, Higher Education, and Labor held a joint legislative hearing on the status of the state’s health care workforce on Tues., Dec. 19th at Hunter College in NYC. Attending the hearing were Health Chair Paulin, Health Ranker Jensen, Higher Education Chair Fahy, Labor Chair Joyner, Disabilities Chair Seawright, Mental Health Chair Gunther, and several other Assembly committee members. The hearing was invitation only, but fortunately LeadingAge NY was offered the opportunity to weigh in. A copy of LeadingAge NY's written testimony is available here, and a recap of oral testimony is provided below.
The Assembly heard testimony from 31 stakeholders, many of whom mentioned the impact of funding and wages on the availability of trained workers, as well as the workforce shortages’ impacts on access to care in various care settings. Professionals from the education and health care sectors alike stressed the need for more robust career ladders, training opportunities, resources, and flexibilities to rebuild a pipeline of trained direct care workers and enable better compensation for, and positioning of, existing workers.
Diane Darbyshire, Vice President of Advocacy and Public Policy at LeadingAge NY, offered in-person and written testimony at the hearing highlighting the long term care/aging services workforce shortages and related ripple effects being felt throughout the health care system. In her testimony, Darbyshire stressed that older adults and people seeking long term care services are already experiencing access to care challenges, sometimes keeping these individuals in hospitals or emergency settings for longer than is necessary. The 5,600 nursing home beds that are currently out of operation are offline almost entirely due to lack of available staff and resources. When Medicaid-dependent older adults are forced to call on hospitals and emergency departments to receive the care they need, it comes at a greater cost to the State and results in financial losses for hospitals and aging services providers alike.
“Demographics show us that this will only get worse,” said Darbyshire, as she explained that the need for long term care services is only going to grow. Seventy percent of people over the age of 65 will need some form of long term care service as they age, and adequate funding and workers are needed to ensure that people can access the care they need. Darbyshire concluded her oral testimony by stressing that publicly funded long term care providers, including nursing homes, assisted living programs (ALPs), adult day health care (ADHC) programs, and home care agencies, need Medicaid reimbursement and funding that matches the cost of providing care. Adequate funding is necessary to enable the long term care sector to compete for critical staff and offer older New Yorkers the high quality of care and quality of life they deserve.
“Investment in long term care pays dividends by reducing strains on the larger health care system and ensuring people get the best specialized care possible to meet their existing needs,” said Darbyshire.
Darbyshire’s testimony was followed by questions from Health Ranker Jensen and Higher Education Chair Fahy regarding the authorization of medication aides in nursing homes, the status of daily Health Electronic Response Data System (HERDS) survey reporting, and the implications of existing nursing home staffing requirements.
Contact: Sarah Daly, sdaly@leadingageny.org