As Baby Boomers age, the need for home care skyrockets
By Rep. Julie A. Casimiro
Recently, I had the opportunity to visit with one of my
constituents who receives healthcare services in their home in order to remain
safely at home.
Without home care, this North Kingstown resident would
not be able to live in our community with family and would be subject to
nursing home placement at a higher expense to taxpayers.
During my visit, I met with the proprietor of the home
care company from which this constituent utilizes for care, Mary Benway of
Community Care Nurses, also based in North Kingstown.
Mary provided me with significant information about the
plight of home care companies operating in Rhode Island.
From low Medicaid reimbursement rates to more stringent
business regulations that do not impact delivery of quality care, Mary spoke
about some of the home care companies around Rhode Island that have already
closed as a result of an unfriendly business climate for these healthcare
providers.
Not only are these companies struggling to survive to
care for their patients and clients, the reimbursement rates directly reflect
low wages for their direct care staff.
At this visit, I met one of Mary’s employees, a young
woman named Krystal, a nurse assistant that delivers personal care services.
Some of the tasks in which Krystal provides are assistance
with feeding, bathing, toileting, as well as repositioning for her bed bound
client.
However, Krystal will soon be leaving this client as she
will graduate from nursing school in a few weeks and has already sought
higher-paying employment at Kent Hospital.
Mary considers Krystal a success story as Krystal chose
to move up in the healthcare field, instead of how many nurse assistants leave
home care, moving to better paying non-skilled jobs, such as within the retail
and fast food industries.
Because there are more direct care staff leaving the home
care industry than those entering into the workforce, there are not enough
people to care for the growing list of those without services that are at-risk
for hospitalization or nursing home placement that could otherwise be attended
to safely at home.
This growing list of need has only become exacerbated by
the state’s UHIP implementation failure in which providers like Community Care
Nurses have experienced significant delays in reimbursement, delayed access to
new case referrals, and delayed Medicaid reauthorizations to continue care for
some of their clients.
I am fighting to end our state’s access to home care
crisis. As a state representative, I am deeply concerned about not having an
adequate workforce committed to delivering quality home care.
As “baby boomers” age, we will need more nurse
assistants, physical therapists, occupational therapists, social workers, and
nurses to help navigate our complex healthcare system and deliver healthcare at
home, where many of us prefer to live.
We cannot lose these vital professionals and
paraprofessionals to other industries because their wages do not reflect their
value or our need.
At the State House, I intend to fight for better
reimbursement rates competitive to our neighboring states so that home care
companies can remain open and that home care workers in North Kingstown and
throughout our state will have the wages that they need in order to remain in
home care, receive the same access to quality healthcare that they deliver in our
communities, and be able to live comfortably while providing for their
families.
Rep. Julie A.
Casimiro represents District 31 in North Kingstown and Exeter
