By investing in the home health workforce, the plan will help strengthen the nation’s healthcare delivery infrastructure and improve outcomes for patients receiving care in the home.
Recognizing the growing demand for and value of home-based healthcare – and acknowledging that not all eligible patients are currently able to access the home care they need – President Biden’s American Jobs Plan calls on Congress to allocate $400 billion in order to expand access to quality, affordable home- or community-based care for aging Americans and people with disabilities.
The Biden plan calls for major investments in the home health workforce infrastructure, including funding to help create new home care jobs, while bolstering the home care sector’s ability to recruit and retain individuals who provide essential services to patients in the safety and comfort of their homes. Ultimately, the home healthcare provisions in the American Jobs Plan will help improve access to high quality care and improve outcomes in a patient-preferred setting: the home.
Building on the provisions outlined in the plan, the Partnership strongly supports bolstering the home health workforce by allocating funds to invest in improvements to workforce infrastructure. These funds could be used for career ladders, mentor programs, tax credits, childcare and transportation stipends. By supporting the home healthcare workforce infrastructure, the sector can more effectively recruit, support and retain a highly skilled and well-trained workforce for the growing number of Americans seeking care in the home setting.
“By making major investments in home health workforce infrastructure, President Biden and Congress have the opportunity to make one of the most important and impactful investments in home care in decades,” said Joanne Cunningham, Executive Director of the Partnership. “As America continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, which has highlighted the tremendous value of care at home in our nation’s healthcare delivery system, the bold initiatives included in the American Jobs Plan represent an exciting step forward for home-based care. The home healthcare community looks forward to engaging with our partners in Washington to ensure that a strong home healthcare workforce can continue serving sick and disabled Americans for decades to come.”
The Partnership and other leaders in the home care community have prioritized improvements in workforce infrastructure that would advance workforce recruitment and retention initiatives. These include funding and efforts to improve education and training for home health nurses and clinicians; develop and foster career ladder and lattice programs; establish funding for educational advancement in the home healthcare field; and assist with childcare and transportation-related needs of the home health workforce.
To read a fact sheet about the American Jobs Plan, click here.
About the Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare
The Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare was established in 2010 to work in partnership with government officials to ensure access to quality home healthcare services for all Americans. Representing community- and hospital-based home healthcare agencies nationwide, the Partnership is dedicated to developing innovative reforms to improve the program integrity, quality and efficiency of home healthcare for our nation’s seniors. Visit pqhh.org to learn more.
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