A New Era of Home Health Care in New York State
This article summarizes data and information that describe New York State’s current health care workforce and offers suggestions on how to reach these goals.
Ambitious Plans For Empire State Home Health Care
Ambitious Plans For Empire State Home Health Care
The state’s Department of Health has set ambitious goals for increasing access to and improving quality of health care for all New Yorkers.
To accomplish this, it will need greater numbers of well-trained providers delivering high-quality services, especially physicians and nurses and home health aides (HHA’s).
New York State is in the midst of a major change in its health care system.
The need for qualified health care workers is impacted by a number of factors including the following:
- A major shift in the focus of health care delivery from acute care to primary and preventative care is necessary.
- For those who provide services, team-based models can be a great way to increase service delivery efficiency.
- The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 should be the focus for population health management since it is linked to chronic disease management.
- An aging population has both positives and negatives. An older population can bring wisdom in dealing with problems, but it may also create a strain on society’s resources.
- Due to regulatory changes, pharmacists are able to enlarge their scope of practice.
- New job categories should be created to assist in the delivery of home health care (for example, Advanced Home Health Aide).
- Telemedicine is a technology that allows you to consult and interact with doctors remotely. A patient can be in one city while the doctor is located hundreds of miles away, even across international borders.
- A move to value-based payment models is being considered by the government.
In addition, the New York State legislature has changed the title and professional requirements for registered dental assistants. Finally, the impact of law enabling nurse practitioners to practice more independently remains uncertain.
New York Home Home Health Aides: Surging Demand
Home health aides are projected to be the fastest-growing occupation statewide in terms of employment rates.
In 2016, there were 52 home care providers for every 100 jobs and by 2026 this number is expected to increase to 64 workers per 100 occupations.
This trend continues as worker shortages across industries contribute more nurses choosing alternate careers like becoming a physician assistant or nurse practitioner while demand increases from aging patients who need assistance at their homes with tasks such as bathing, feeding themselves, managing medications and other treatments related needs on an ongoing basis.
The trend will also be compounded by a projected 14% increase in the number of New York residents aged 65 and older from 2016 to 2026.
In turn, this means more employees may choose home care aides as their preferred occupation over nursing or other healthcare professions that require being on-site.
For example, the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics projects job growth for nurses at 12%, however only an average annualized rate of less than one percent for those opting to become home health aides.
Between 2014 and 2018, the number of home health aide jobs grew by more than 45,000 (30.9%), and the number of registered nurse (RN) jobs increased by nearly 13,000 (7.6%).
This surge in RNs is due to a push for nurses who can speak other languages such as Korean or Urdu; however, this has not been enough to meet demand because there are still vacancies left unfilled even after five years. In contrast with these trends among professional positions where growth was slow but steady overall over that period—among certified nursing assistants it dropped significantly from about 10K between 2006-2014.
Train To Be a Certified Home Health Aide in New York
You may be wondering what is required before you can receive certification?
The process for becoming certified begins with submitting any necessary paperwork (consent forms) online or through mail, then providing information on past work history and education background—providing all documents requested by the State Board of Nursing Home Administrators within 30 days after application submission.
In order to receive your home health aide certification in New York you need to follow the minimum [federal] home health aide education requirements.
HHA training programs must consist of at least seventy-five (75) hours of training which needs to include at least sixteen (16) hours of clinical training.
Only those who have received certification can work as a home health aide.
