Spring Summer 2018

The Oregon Caregiver Spring/Summer 2018 www.ohca.com 14 PUBLIC POLICY I f you ask a senior care provider what’s their biggest challenge in providing quality care and services, you will likely hear “workforce shortages.” If you ask a policymaker how to improve the long term care workforce, they will likely say, “more training and higher compensation.” Addressing both perspectives is challenging, but growing the workforce to care for our aging population while increasing the quality and compensation of that workforce— and keeping care affordable—is critical. Oregon’s labor market is tight and competing for caregivers and other workers in this economy is increasingly difficult. Changing demographics make long term care workforce challenges even more daunting; the demand for long term care services is increasing (and will continue to do so) as baby boomers age and rely more heavily on long term care services and supports. Likewise, many rural counties have larger percentages of seniors and retired residents and lower numbers of younger workers. In some respects, policymakers are exacerbating these workforce challenges through policies that either directly or indirectly impact the long term care workforce of over 50,000 in Oregon. For example, over the past few years, the legislature has adopted a number of new labor and workforce requirements that are increasing the cost of delivering care and making it harder for providers to compete for workers. Many of these policies are well intended with the objective of improving the quality of care for residents and the quality of life for workers. These policies ideally should also benefit providers by increasing resident satisfaction and reducing the number of regulatory actions taken by the state. However, the data is not yet available to determine whether these new requirements are having their desired effects. Yet, the challenges created for the long term care workforce are real and visible. The clearest impact is the higher cost to hire, retain, and train workers. Once fully implemented in 2022, Oregon’s base minimum wage in the Portland Metro area will have increased 60 percent over six years. While the vast majority of long term care workers earn wages above the minimum wage, by increasing wages across the economy, we’ve seen some workers leave the demands of caregiving for similar compensation elsewhere. The only way providers can keep pace with rising wages and compete The Long Term Care Workforce and the Cost of Senior Care By Phil Bentley, Oregon Health Care Association Governor Kate Brown announces Future Ready Oregon, a career and technical education initiative, in her State of the State speech in February.