Two big home care deals surfaced Thursday: Amedisys Inc. a leading home health, hospice and personal care company, signed an agreement to acquire Contessa Health, a leader in hospital-at-home and skilled nursing facility. And LHC Group Inc. has agreed to purchase three home health, hospice and palliative care providers across three states.
The deals show that there is no shortage of financial interest in this sector. Unfortunately, there is a serious dearth of something else that could affect the firms doing the deals: workers.
The lack of workers in home care is not a small issue. In fact, it’s something that the sector should be alarmed about, given our nation’s aging demographics.
A lot has been discussed regarding how to solve the workforce crisis: Improving pay and benefits, making it easier for foreign workers to fill home care jobs, giving direct-care jobs more responsibility and respect.
All these steps are important and worthwhile. But there’s another good idea for growing the direct-care workforce that can be applied: Appeal to people’s desire to do good.
Lori Porter, the outspoken co-founder of the National Association of Health Care Assistants, articulated this point well this week. She was a guest speaker during LeadingAge’s Coronavirus Update Call on Monday.
“We need to tell the truth,” she said. “People want to be part of the team. They want to be part of the solution.”
She was speaking, in particular, about a frequently maligned group of workers: millennials. While many criticize this cohort for an alleged lack of work ethic, she suggested that this generation actually is tapped into an elevated worldview.
“I’d hire millennials all day long,” she said. “They don’t want to make a job. They want to make a difference.”
Pay and benefits are important, but they don’t necessarily inspire people to make the world a better place, she said.
“We also can sell emotional benefits,” she said. “This industry is very high on emotional benefits, and if care centers and employers learn how to articulate that in a way that resonates with ‘I want to be part of something,’ that makes a difference.”
That should not be a tough sell for home care. Want to learn about people who touch lives? Give back? There is no shortage of good examples.
Liza Berger is editor of McKnight’s Home Care. Email her at [email protected]. Follow her @LizaBerger19.
This article originally appeared on McKnight's Senior Living
